Understanding Name Forms

Name forms can be used to define a mechanism for naming entries in Oracle Unified Directory. In particular, a name form specifies one or more attribute types that must be present in the RDN of an entry with a given structural object class. A name form can also specify zero or more attribute types, which can optionally be present in the RDN.

Each structural object class defined in Oracle Unified Directory schema can be associated with one or more name forms. If a name form is defined for a given structural object class, then the associated name form is enforced for any add or modify DN operations for entries containing that object class. If a structural object class is not associated with a name form, then any attribute type that is allowed to exist in the target entry can be used as a naming attribute type.

Name Form Description Format

The name form description format is described in RFC 4512, section 4.1.7.2, as shown here:

NameFormDescription = LPAREN WSP
numericoid                 ; object identifier
[ SP "NAME" SP qdescrs ]   ; short names (descriptors)
[ SP "DESC" SP qdstring ]  ; description
[ SP "OBSOLETE" ]          ; not active
SP "OC" SP oids             ; structural object classes
SP "MUST" SP oids          ; attribute types
[ SP "MAY" SP oids ]       ; attribute types
extensions WSP RPAREN      ; extensions

The name form description includes these elements:

numericoid

The numeric OID used to uniquely identify the name form in Oracle Unified Directory. Although the specification requires a numeric OID, Oracle Unified Directory also allows a non-numeric OID for the purpose of convenience. In this case, the non-numeric OID should be the same as the name of the name form followed by the string -oid.

NAME

An optional set of human-readable names that can be used to refer to the name form. If there is a single name, then it should be enclosed in single quotes. If there are multiple names, then they should each be enclosed in single quotes separated by spaces, and the entire set of names should be enclosed in parentheses.

DESC

An optional human-readable description. If a description is present, then it should be enclosed in single quotation marks.

OBSOLETE

An optional OBSOLETE flag that can be used to indicate whether the name form is active. If a name form is marked as OBSOLETE, then it should not be in effect within Oracle Unified Directory, nor should it be possible to create any other elements that depend on it.

OC

The names or OIDs of the structural object classes with which the name form is associated.

MUST

The names or OIDs of one or more attribute types that must be present in the RDN for any entry with the specified structural class. If there is only a single required attribute type, then only its name or OID needs to be given. If there are multiple required attribute types, then they should be separated by spaces and dollar signs, and the entire set of required attribute types should be enclosed in parentheses.

MAY

The names or OIDs of zero or more attribute types that can optionally be present in the RDN for any entry with the specified structural class. If there is only a single optional attribute type, then only its name or OID needs to be given. If there are multiple optional attribute types, then they should be separated by spaces and dollar signs, and the entire set of optional attribute types should be enclosed in parentheses.

extensions

An optional set of extensions for the name form. Oracle Unified Directory currently uses the following extensions for name forms:

X-ORIGIN

Provides information about where the name form is defined (for example, whether it came from a particular RFC or Internet Draft or whether it is defined within the project.).

X-SCHEMA-FILE

Indicates which schema file contains the name form definition (This extension is generally used for internal purposes only and is exposed to clients.)

For example, the following is the name form description for the uddiBusinessEntityNameForm name form defined in RFC 4403:

( 1.3.6.1.1.10.15.1 NAME 'uddiBusinessEntityNameForm'
OC uddiBusinessEntity MUST ( uddiBusinessKey ) X-ORIGIN 'RFC 4403' )

In this case, the numeric OID is 1.3.6.1.1.10.15.1 and the human-readable name is uddiBusinessEntityNameForm. Entries with the uddiBusinessEntity structural object class are required to use uddiBusinessKey as their only RDN attribute type. There is no description, nor are there any other attribute types that can optionally be included in the associated entries. The name form is not marked OBSOLETE.