test

Sun Directory Server Enterprise Edition 7.0 Administration Guide

Chapter 4 Directory Server Entries

This chapter discusses how to manage the data entries in your directory. It also describes how to set referrals, encrypt attribute values, and compress entries.

When planning a directory deployment, you need to characterize the types of data that the directory will contain. Read the relevant chapters in the Sun Directory Server Enterprise Edition 7.0 Deployment Planning Guide before creating entries and modifying the default schema.

You cannot modify your directory unless the appropriate access control instructions (ACIs) have been defined. For further information, see Chapter 6, Directory Server Access Control.

This chapter covers the following topics:

Managing Entries

The best way to manage entries depends on the context:

Managing Entries Using DSCC

DSCC enables you to view all readable unencrypted attributes of an entry and to edit its writable attributes. It also enables you to add and remove attributes, set multi-valued attributes, and manage the object classes of the entry. For more information about how to use DSCC to manage entries, see the DSCC online help. For more information about DSCC in general, see Directory Service Control Center Interface.

Extending Entries Using DSCC

You can add or edit a directory entry directly through DSCC on the Entry Management tab page for a Directory Server instance. There are buttons that launch wizards for adding and editing entries.

The following procedure explains how to extend entries, adding additional user-defined attributes to existing entries. For example, a new application accessing the directory requires that you store additional information on each entry, and you need to create a few entries for testing purposes.

ProcedureTo Extend Entries Using DSCC

  1. Use the schema wizard to set up a user-defined object class that specifies the attributes that you can add to the entry.

    Click the link to the Directory instance; click the Schema tab; scroll to User-Defined Object Classes, and click the Add button to open the wizard.

    Alternatively, you can update the directory schema over LDAP or by editing configuration files. For more information, see Chapter 11, Directory Server Schema.

    You must create the object class, because adding an object class attribute value to an entry is the LDAP way of extending the list of attributes the entry can have.

  2. From the Entry Management tab, and find the entry to update.

  3. When you edit the entry, use the Text View.

    The form-based editor shows you all the attributes you can edit, but not object classes you can add to extend the entry.

  4. In the Text View, add the object class and attributes you want in LDIF format.

    For example, if you extend the schema with example-objectclass that allows the example-attribute attribute to add to the LDIF.


    dn: uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
cn: Babs Jensen
mail: bjensen@example.com
objectclass: top
objectclass: person
objectclass: organizationalPerson
objectclass: inetOrgPerson
objectclass: example-objectclass
sn: Jensen
uid: bjensen
example-attribute: Extended entry

    The Text View editor has a check routine built in, so you can check that your edits are valid with a single click. When everything is the way you want it, apply your changes.

Managing Entries Using ldapmodify and ldapdelete

The ldapmodify and ldapdelete command-line utilities provide full functionality for adding, editing, and deleting your directory contents. You can use these utilities to manage both the configuration entries of the server and the data in the user entries. The utilities can also be used to write scripts to perform bulk management of one or more directories.

The ldapmodify and ldapdelete commands are used in procedures throughout this book. The following sections describe the basic operations that you will need to perform procedures. For more information about the ldapmodify and ldapdelete commands, see Sun Directory Server Enterprise Edition 7.0 Reference.

Input to the command-line utilities is always in LDIF, and it can be provided either directly from the command-line or through an input file. The following section provides information about LDIF input, and subsequent sections describe the LDIF input for each type of modification.

For information about formatting LDIF input correctly, see the Guidelines for Providing LDIF Input in Sun Directory Server Enterprise Edition 7.0 Reference.

The following sections describe these basic operations:

Adding Entries Using ldapmodify

You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help.

Note –

Ensure that you use the ldapmodify utility provided with the Directory Server Enterprise Edition software.

You can add one or more entries to the directory by using the -a option of ldapmodify. The following example creates a structural entry to contain users and then creates a user entry:


$ ldapmodify -a -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
Enter bind password:
dn: ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
objectclass: top
objectclass: organizationalUnit
ou: People
description: Container for user entries

dn: uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
objectclass: top
objectclass: person
objectclass: organizationalPerson
objectclass: inetorgPerson
uid: bjensen
givenName: Barbara
sn: Jensen
cn: Babs Jensen
telephoneNumber: (408) 555-3922
facsimileTelephoneNumber: (408) 555-4000
mail: bjensen@example.com
userPassword: secret

The -D and -w options give the bind DN and password, respectively, of a user with permissions to create these entries. The -a option indicates that all entries in the LDIF will be added. Then each entry is listed by its DN and its attribute values, with a blank line between each entry. The ldapmodify utility creates each entry after it is entered, and the utility reports any errors.

    By convention, the LDIF of an entry lists the following attributes:

  1. The DN of the entry.

  2. The list of object classes.

  3. The naming attribute (or attributes). This is the attribute used in the DN, and it is not necessarily one of the required attributes.

  4. The list of required attributes for all object classes.

  5. Any allowed attributes that you want to include.

When typing a value for the userPassword attribute, provide the clear text version of the password. The server will encrypt this value and store only the encrypted value. Be sure to limit read permissions to protect clear passwords that appear in LDIF files.

You can also use an alternate form of the LDIF that does not require the -a option on the command line. The advantage of this form is that you can combine entry addition statements and entry modification statements, as shown in the following example.


$ ldapmodify -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
Enter bind password: 
dn: ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: add
objectclass: top
objectclass: organizationalUnit
ou: People
description: Container for user entries

dn: uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: add
objectclass: top
objectclass: person
objectclass: organizationalPerson
objectclass: inetorgPerson
uid: bjensen
givenName: Barbara
sn: Jensen
cn: Barbara Jensen
telephoneNumber: (408) 555-3922
facsimileTelephoneNumber: (408) 555-4000
mail: bjensen@example.com
userPassword: secret

The changetype: add keyword indicates that the entry with the given DN should be created with all of the subsequent attributes. All other options and LDIF conventions are the same as explained earlier in this section.

In both examples, you can use the -f filename option to read the LDIF from a file instead of from the terminal input. The LDIF file must contain the same format as used for the terminal input, depending upon your use of the -a option.

Modifying Entries Using ldapmodify

You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help.

Note –

Ensure that you use the ldapmodify utility that is provided as a part of the Directory Server Enterprise Edition software.

Use the changetype: modify keyword to add, replace, or remove attributes and their values in an existing entry. When you specify changetype: modify, you must also provide one or more change operations to indicate how the entry is to be modified. The three possible LDIF change operations are shown in the following example:


dn: entryDN
changetype: modify
add: attribute 
attribute: value...
-
replace: attribute 
attribute: newValue...
-
delete: attribute 
[attribute: value]
...

Use a hyphen (-) on a line to separate operations on the same entry, and use a blank line to separate groups of operations on different entries. You can also give several attribute: value pairs for each operation.

Adding an Attribute Value

You cannot use DSCC to perform this task. Use the command line, as described in this procedure.

The following example shows how you can use the same add LDIF syntax to add values to existing multi-valued attribute and to attributes that do not yet exist:


$ ldapmodify -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
Enter bind password:
dn: uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: modify
add: cn
cn: Babs Jensen
-
add: mobile
mobile: (408) 555-7844

This operation might fail and the server will return an error if any of the following are true:

Using the Binary Attribute Subtype

You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help.

The attribute;binary subtype indicates that attribute values must be transported over LDAP as binary data, regardless of their actual syntax. This subtype is designed for complex syntax that does not have LDAP string representations, such as userCertificate. The binary subtype should not be used outside of this purpose.

When used with the ldapmodify command, appropriate subtypes can be added to attribute names in any of the LDIF statements.

To enter a binary value, you may type it directly in the LDIF text or read it from another file. The LDIF syntax for reading it from a file is shown in the following example:


$ ldapmodify -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
Enter bind password:
version: 1
dn: uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: modify
add: userCertificate;binary
userCertificate;binary:< file:///local/cert-file

To use the :< syntax to specify a file name, you must begin the LDIF statement with the line version: 1. When ldapmodify processes this statement, it will set the attribute to the value that is read from the entire contents of the given file.

By default, the search returns the binary attributes when used with the ;binary option. Set the compat-flag to norfc4522 to disable rfc4522 compliance.

Adding an Attribute With a Language Subtype

You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help.

Language and pronunciation subtypes of attributes designate localized values. When you specify a language subtype for an attribute, the subtype is added to the attribute name as follows:


attribute;lang-CC

where attribute is an existing attribute type, and cc is the two-letter country code to designate the language. You may optionally add a pronunciation subtype to a language subtype to designate a phonetic equivalent for the localized value. In this case the attribute name is as follows:


attribute;lang-CC;phonetic

To perform an operation on an attribute with a subtype, you must explicitly match its subtype. For example, if you want to modify an attribute value that has the lang-fr language subtype, you must include lang-fr in the modify operation as follows:


$ ldapmodify -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
Enter bind password:
dn: uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: modify
add: homePostalAddress;lang-fr
homePostalAddress;lang-fr: 34, rue de la Paix
Note –

If the attribute value contains non-ASCII characters, they must be UTF-8 encoded.

Modifying Attribute Values

You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help.

The following example shows how to change the value of an attribute by using the replace syntax in LDIF:


$ ldapmodify -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
Enter bind password:
dn: uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: modify
replace: sn
sn: Morris
-
replace: cn
cn: Barbara Morris
cn: Babs Morris

All current values of the specified attributes are removed, and all given values are added.

After changing an attribute value, you can use the ldapsearch command to verify the change.

Trailing Spaces in Attribute Values

When you modify an attribute value, do not unintentionally include trailing spaces at the end of the value. The trailing spaces are stored in the server as part of the attribute's value, and leads to unexpected values being stored

When you verify the change using DSCC or the ldapsearch command, the value you see might be plain text or some other unexpected value. This depends on which Directory Server client you use.

Deleting an Attribute Value

You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help.

The following example shows how to delete an attribute entirely and to delete only one value of a multi valued attribute:


$ ldapmodify -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
Enter bind password:
dn: uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: modify
delete: facsimileTelephoneNumber
-
delete: cn
cn: Babs Morris

When using the delete syntax without specifying an attribute: value pair, all values of the attribute are removed. If you specify an attribute: value pair, only that value is removed.

Modifying One Value of a Multi Valued Attribute

You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help.

To modify one value of a multi valued attribute with the ldapmodify command, you must perform two operations as shown in the following example:


$ ldapmodify -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
Enter bind password:
dn: uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: modify
delete: mobile
mobile: (408) 555-7845
-
add: mobile
mobile: (408) 555-5487

Deleting Entries Using ldapdelete

You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help.

Note –

Ensure that you use the ldapdelete utility that is provided as a part of the Directory Server Enterprise Edition software.

Use the ldapdelete command-line utility to delete entries from the directory. This utility binds to the directory server and deletes one or more entries based on their DN. You must provide a bind DN that has permission to delete the specified entries.

You cannot delete an entry that has children. The LDAP protocol forbids the situation where child entries would no longer have a parent. For example, you cannot delete an organizational unit entry unless you have first deleted all entries that belong to the organizational unit.

The following example shows only one entry in the organizational unit. This entry and then its parent entry can be deleted.


$ ldapdelete -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
Enter bind password:
uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
ou=People,dc=example,dc=com

Deleting Entries Using ldapmodify

You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help.

Note –

Ensure that you use the ldapmodify utility that is provided as a part of the Directory Server Enterprise Edition software.

When using the ldapmodify utility, you can also use the changetype: delete keywords to delete entries. All of the same limitations apply as when using ldapdelete, as described in the previous section. The advantage of using LDIF syntax for deleting entries is that you can perform a mix of operations in a single LDIF file.

The following example performs the same delete operations as the previous example:


$ ldapmodify -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
dn: uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: delete

dn: ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: delete

Searching Entries Using ldapsearch

You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help.

Note –

Ensure that you use the ldapsearch utility that is provided as a part of the Directory Server Enterprise Edition software.

You can use the ldapsearch command-line utility to locate and retrieve directory entries.

For more information about using ldapsearch, common ldapsearch options, accepted formats, and examples, refer to Sun Directory Server Enterprise Edition 7.0 Reference.

ProcedureTo Move or Rename an Entry Using ldapmodify

This procedure uses the modify DN operation. Before starting this operation, ensure that you are familiar with the section Guidelines and Limitations for Using the Modify DN Operation.

For parts of this procedure, you can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help. Other parts of the procedure can only be done using the command line.

Note –

When modifying the DNs of entries that are a uniquemember of a group, you must have the referential integrity plug-in enabled. Referential integrity ensures that the group members get adjusted when the entry is moved. For information about how to enable and configure the referential integrity plug-in, see To Configure the Referential Integrity Plug-In.

  1. If you are moving an entry from one parent to another, extend ACI rights on the parent entries.

    • On the current parent entry of the entry to be moved, ensure that the ACI allows the export operations by using the syntax allow (export ...)

    • On the future parent entry of the entry to be moved, ensure that the ACI allows the import operations. by using the syntax allow (import ...)

    For information about using ACIs, see Chapter 6, Directory Server Access Control.

  2. Ensure that the modify DN operation is enabled globally, or at least for the suffix or suffixes that will be affected by the move operation.

    To ensure compatibility with previous releases of Directory Server, the modify DN operation is not enabled by default.

    If you have already enabled the modify DN operation previously, go to the next step.

    To enable the modify DN operation globally for a server, use this command:


    $ dsconf set-server-prop -h host -p port moddn-enabled:on

  3. Run the ldapmodify command.

    This step uses the modify DN operation. Do one of the following:

    • Move the entry.

      For example, the following command moves the entry uid=bjensen from the subtree for contractors, ou=Contractors,dc=example,dc=com to the subtree for employees, ou=People,dc=example,dc=com:


      $ ldapmodify -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
Enter bind password:
dn: uid=bjensen,ou=Contractors,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: modrdn
newrdn: uid=bjensen
deleteoldrdn: 0
newsuperior: ou=People,dc=example,dc=com

    • Rename the entry.

      For example, the following command renames the entry uid=bbjensen to uid=bjensen:


      $ ldapmodify -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
Enter bind password:
dn: uid=bbjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: modrdn
newrdn: uid=bjensen
deleteoldrdn: 1

    Pay attention to the following attributes when writing the LDIF statement:

    • dn - Specifies the entry to rename or move.

    • changetype: modrdn - Specifies that a modify DN operation is to be used.

    • newrdn - Gives the new naming attribute.

    • deleteoldrdn - Indicates whether the previous naming attribute should be removed from the entry (1 is yes, 0 is no).

      Note that you cannot remove a naming attribute from the entry if that attribute is obligatory in the entry definition.

    • newsuperior - Specifies the new superior attribute of the entry.

    For information about the ldapmodify command and its options, see the ldapmodify(1) man page.

  4. If you encounter resource limit errors when moving or renaming subtrees that contain a large number of entries, increase the number of locks that can be used by the database.


    $ dsconf set-server-prop -h host -p port db-lock-count:value

    If you modify this property, you must restart the server for the change to take effect.

Guidelines and Limitations for Using the Modify DN Operation

When you use the modify DN operation, as described in the previous section, use the guidelines described in the following sections.

General Guidelines for Using the Modify DN Operation

Guidelines for Using the Modify DN Operation With Replication

Caution – Caution –

Using the modify DN operation without complying with the following requirements can break replication and bring down your directory service.

Grouping Entries for Simplified Management

You can simplify entry management by associating related entries in groups. The group mechanism makes it easy to retrieve a list of entries that are members of a given group and set access permissions for a whole group.

Entries can be managed as members of dynamic and static groups. Static groups are suitable for groups with few members, such as a group of directory administrators. A dynamic group specifies one or more URL search filters, so the dynamic group membership is defined each time these search filters are evaluated.

You can retrieve a list of all the static groups a given user is a member of by using the dynamic isMemberOf attribute. This attribute is located in the user entry and in nested group entries and holds the DNs of the static groups to which the member belongs. For example, Kirsten Vaughan is a new system administrator in the human resources department. Her entry shows that she is a member of both the System Administrators group and the HR Managers group.


$ ldapsearch -b "dc=example,dc=com" uid=kvaughan isMemberOf

uid=kvaughan, ou=People, dc=example,dc=com
isMemberOf: cn=System Administrators, ou=Groups, dc=example,dc=com 
isMemberOf: cn=HR Managers,ou=groups,dc=example,dc=com

Membership testing for group entries has been improved. These improvements remove some of the previous restrictions on static groups, specifically the restriction on group size. This performance improvement is only effective after the group entry has been loaded into the entry cache.

Compressing Entries

To reduce the database entry size, entities can be compressed. The compressed entry results in improved performance through reducing the number of overflow pages in large databases.

ProcedureTo Compress the Size of Entries in Database

  1. Configure compressed-entries to specify the entries that need to be compressed.


    $ dsconf set-suffix-prop -p port-number dc=example,dc=com compressed-entries:all

    For more information, see compressed-entries(5dsconf)

  2. Configure compression-mode to specify the compression technique.


    $ dsconf set-suffix-prop -p port-number dc=example,dc=com compression-mode:DSZ

    For more information, see compression-mode(5dsconf)

Setting Referrals

You can use referrals to tell client applications which server to contact if the information is not available locally. Referrals are pointers to a remote suffix or entry that Directory Server returns to the client, in place of a result. The client must then perform the operation again on the remote server named in the referral.

Redirection occurs in three cases:

In all cases, a referral is an LDAP URL that contains the host name, port number, and optionally a DN on another server. For example, ldap://east.example.com:389.

For conceptual information about how you can use referrals in your directory deployment, see the Sun Directory Server Enterprise Edition 7.0 Deployment Planning Guide.

The following sections describe the procedures for setting your directory’s default referrals and for creating and defining smart referrals.

Setting the Default Referrals

Default referrals are returned to client applications that submit operations on a DN that is not contained on a suffix maintained by your Directory Server. The server will return all referrals that are defined, but the order in which they are returned is not defined.

ProcedureTo Set a Default Referral

You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help.

  1. Use the dsconf command-line utility to set one or more default referrals. 


    $ dsconf set-server-prop -h host -p port suffix-DN referral-url:referral-URL

    For example:


    $ dsconf set-server-prop -h host1 -p 1389 dc=example,dc=com \
 referral-url:ldap://east.example.com:1389

Setting Smart Referrals

Smart referrals allow you to map a directory entry or a directory tree to a specific LDAP URL. Using smart referrals, you can refer client applications to a specific server or to a specific entry on a specific server.

Often, a smart referral points to an actual entry with the same DN on another server. However, you may define the smart referral to any entry on the same server or on a different server. For example, you can define the entry with the following DN to be a smart referral:


uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com

The smart referral points to another entry on the server east.example.com:


cn=Babs Jensen,ou=Sales,o=east,dc=example,dc=com

The way the directory uses smart referrals conforms to the standard specified in section 4.1.10 of RFC 4511 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4511.txt).

ProcedureTo Create and Modify a Smart Referral

You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help.

  1. To create a smart referral, create an entry with referral and extensibleObject object classes.

    The referral object class allows the ref attribute that is expected to contain an LDAP URL. The extensibleObject object class allows you to use any schema attribute as the naming attribute, in order to match the target entry.

    For example, to define the following entry to return a smart referral instead of the entry uid=bjensen, use this command:


    $ ldapmodify -a -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
Enter bind password:
dn: uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
objectclass: top
objectclass: extensibleObject
objectclass: referral
uid: bjensen
ref: ldap://east.example.com/cn=Babs%20Jensen,ou=Sales,o=east,dc=example,dc=com
    Note –

    Any information after a space in an LDAP URL is ignored by the server. Thus, you must use %20 instead of spaces in any LDAP URL that you intend to use as a referral. Other special characters must be escaped.

    After you have defined the smart referral, modifications to the uid=bjensen entry will actually be performed on the cn=Babs Jensen entry on the other server. The ldapmodify command will automatically follow the referral, for example:


    $ ldapmodify -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
Enter bind password:
dn: uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: replace
replace: telephoneNumber
telephoneNumber: (408) 555-1234

  2. (Optional) To modify the smart referral entry, use the -M option of ldapmodify:


    $ ldapmodify -M -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w -
Enter bind password:
dn: uid=bjensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com
changetype: replace
replace: ref
ref: ldap://east.example.com/cn=Babs%20Jensen,ou=Marketing,o=east,dc=example,dc=com

Checking Valid Attribute Syntax

Directory Server allows you to check the integrity of your attributes whenever you perform the following operations:

The checks ensure that the attribute values conform to IETF recommendations. All nonconforming attributes are rejected and logged in the errors log. The log messages include the connection and operation ID, if applicable.

By default, the server does not automatically check the syntax of the previously mentioned operations. If you want to turn syntax checking on, use the following procedure.

Note –

Syntax checking is not the same as schema checking. For information about schema checking, see Managing Schema Checking.

ProcedureTo Turn On Automatic Syntax Checking

You cannot use DSCC to perform this task. Use the command line, as described in this procedure.

  1. To turn on automatic syntax checking, use this command:


    $ dsconf set-server-prop -h host -p port check-syntax-enabled:on

Tracking Modifications to Directory Entries

By default, the server maintains special attributes for newly created or modified entries, as specified in the LDAP v3 specification. These special attributes are stored on the entry in the suffix and include the following:

ProcedureTo Turn Off Entry Modification Tracking

You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help.

Caution – Caution –

Turning off entry modification tracking results in non-compliant data. As many applications rely on these attributes and as disabling this feature results in only minimal performance gains, we recommend that you do not turn off entry modification tracking.

  1. Turn off entry modification tracking for the server.


    $ dsconf set-server-prop -h host -p port suffix-DN mod-tracking-enabled:off

Encrypting Attribute Values

Attribute encryption protects sensitive data while it is stored in the directory. Attribute encryption allows you to specify that certain attributes of an entry are stored in an encrypted format. This prevents data from being readable while stored in database files, backup files, and exported LDIF files.

The only data that is saved on the disk is encrypted. Not all the data that is displayed under the Entry Management panel of the console or as an output of the ldapsearch command, is encrypted.

With this feature, attribute values are encrypted before they are stored in the Directory Server database, and decrypted back to their original value before being returned to the client. You must use access controls to prevent clients from accessing such attributes without permission, and SSL to encrypt all exchanges between the client and Directory Server. For an architectural overview of data security in general and attribute encryption in particular, see Sun Directory Server Enterprise Edition 7.0 Reference.

Attribute encryption is active only when SSL is configured and enabled on the server. However, no attributes are encrypted by default. Attribute encryption is configured at the suffix level, which means that an attribute is encrypted in every entry in which it appears in the suffix. If you want to encrypt an attribute in an entire directory, you must enable encryption for that attribute in every suffix.

Caution – Caution –

Attribute encryption affects all data and index files associated with a suffix. The only attributes are encrypted that are changed after the attribute encryption is activated. Existing attributes will remain unchanged.

To apply encryption to all the data, you must first export its contents, make the configuration change, and then re-import the contents. DSCC can help you perform these steps. For more information about using DSCC, see Directory Service Control Center Interface.

For additional security, when turning on encryption for any attribute, you should manually delete the database cache files and database log file that might still contain unencrypted values. The procedure for deleting these files is described in To Configure Attribute Encryption.

You should enable any encrypted attributes before loading or creating data in a new suffix.

If you choose to encrypt an attribute that some entries use as a naming attribute, values that appear in the DN will not be encrypted. Values that are stored in the entry will be encrypted.

Even though you can select the userPassword attribute for encryption, no real security benefit is realized unless the password needs to be stored in the clear. Such is the case for DIGEST-MD5 SASL authentication. If the password already has an encryption mechanism defined in the password policy, further encryption provides little additional security, but, it will impact the performance of every bind operation.

When in storage, encrypted attributes are prefaced with a cipher tag that indicates the encryption algorithm used. An encrypted attribute using the DES encryption algorithm would appear as follows:


{CKM_DES_CBC}3hakc&jla+=snda%

When importing data online with a view to encrypting it, you will already have provided the key database password to authenticate to the server and will not be prompted a second time. If you are importing data offline, Directory Server will prompt you for the password before it allows you to encrypt the data you are importing. When decrypting data (a more security-sensitive operation), Directory Server automatically prompts you for the key database password, regardless of whether the export operation is online or offline. This provides an additional security layer.

Note –

As long as the certificate or private key does not change, the server will continue to generate the same key. Thus, data can be transported (exported then imported) from one server instance to another, provided both server instances have used the same certificate.

Attribute Encryption and Performance

While attribute encryption offers increased data security, it does impact system performance. Think carefully about which attributes require encryption, and encrypt only those attributes that you consider to be particularly sensitive.

Because sensitive data can be accessed directly through index files, the index keys that correspond to the encrypted attributes must be encrypted to ensure that the attributes are fully protected. Given that indexing already has an impact on Directory Server performance (without the added cost of encrypting index keys), configure attribute encryption before data is imported or added to the database for the first time. This procedure will ensure that encrypted attributes are indexed as such from the outset.

Attribute Encryption Usage Considerations

Consider the following when implementing the attribute encryption feature:

ProcedureTo Configure Attribute Encryption

You can use DSCC to perform this task. For information, see Directory Service Control Center Interface and the DSCC online help.

  1. If the suffix on which you want to configure attribute encryption contains any entries whatsoever, you must first export the contents of that suffix to an LDIF file.

    If the suffix contains encrypted attributes and you plan to re-initialize the suffix using the exported LDIF file, you can leave the attributes encrypted in the exported LDIF .

  2. To enable encryption for an attribute, use this command:


    $ dsconf create-encrypted-attr -h host -p port suffix-DN attr-name cipher-name

    where cipher-name is one of the following:

    • des - DES block cipher

    • des3 - Triple-DES block cipher

    • rc2 - RC2 block cipher

    • rc4 - RC4 stream cipher

    For example:


    $ dsconf create-encrypted-attr -h host1 -p 1389 dc=example,dc=com uid rc4

  3. Initialize the suffix with an LDIF file as described in Initializing a Suffix.

    Note –

    If you are importing the LDIF file using the dsadm import command, you must use the -y option. The dsconf import command does not require to use the -y option.

    As the file is loaded and the corresponding indexes are created, all values of the specified attributes will be encrypted.