Example: How Oracle Internet Directory Works
This example shows you how Oracle Internet Directory processes a search request.
- The user or client enters a search request that is conditioned by one or more of the following options:
- SSL: The client and server can establish a session that uses SSL encryption and authentication, or SSL encryption only. If SSL is not used, the client's message is sent in clear text.
- Type of user: The user can seek access to the directory either as a particular user or as an anonymous user, depending on which of the two has the necessary privileges to perform the desired function.
- Filters: The user can narrow the search by using one or more search filters, including those that use the Boolean conditions "and," "or," and "not," and those that use other operators such as "greater than, "equal to," and "less than".
- If the user or client issues the command by using Oracle Directory Manager, then the latter invokes a query function in the Java Native Interface which, in turn, invokes a function in the C API. If the user or client uses a command-line tool, then the tool directly invokes a C function in the C API.
- The C API, using the LDAP protocol, sends a request to a directory server instance to connect to the directory.
- The directory server authenticates the user, a process called binding. The directory server also checks the Access Control Lists (ACLs) to verify that the user is authorized to perform the requested search.
- The directory server converts the search request from LDAP to Oracle Call Interface (OCI)/Oracle Net Services and sends it to the Oracle9i database.
- The Oracle9i database retrieves the information and passes it back through the chain--to the directory server, then to the C API, and, finally, to the client.
