Sun Java System Web Server 6.1 SP9 Administrator's Guide

How Sun Java System Web Server Implements Dynamic Groups

Sun Java System Web Server implements dynamic groups in the LDAP server schema as objectclass = groupOfURLs. A groupOfURLS class can have multiple memberURL attributes, each one consisting of an LDAP URL that enumerates a set of objects in the directory. The members of the group would be the union of these sets. For example, the following group contains just one member URL:

ldap:///o=mcom.com??sub?(department=marketing)

This example describes a set that consists of all objects below "o=mcom.com" whose department is "marketing." The LDAP URL can contain a search base DN, a scope and filter, however, not a hostname and port. This means that you can only refer to objects on the same LDAP server. All scopes are supported.

The DNs are included automatically without having to add each individual to the group. The group changes dynamically, because Sun Java System Web Server performs an LDAP server search each time a group lookup is needed for ACL verification. The user and group names used in the ACL file correspond to the cn attribute of the objects in the LDAP database.


Note –

Sun Java System Web Server uses the cn (commonName) attribute as group name for ACLs.


The mapping from an ACL to an LDAP database is defined both in the dbswitch.conf configuration file (which associates the ACL database names with actual LDAP database URLs) and the ACL file (which defines which databases are to be used for which ACL). For example, if you want base access rights on membership in a group named "staff," the ACL code looks up an object that has an object class of groupOf<anything> and a CN set to "staff." The object defines the members of the group, either by explicitly enumerating the member DNs (as is done for groupOfUniqueNames for static groups), or by specifying LDAP URLs (for example, groupOfURLs).