Default LDAP Attributes for Users

The Communications Express Server loads a default set of LDAP attributes for a user at the start of a session. These attributes are provided in Example 6–1.

Example 6–1 Customizable LDAP attributes

cn
givenName
mail
mailAlternateAddress
mailAutoReplyMode
mailAutoReplySubject
mailAutoReplyText
mailAutoReplyTextInternal
mailAutoReplyTimeout
mailDeliveryOption
mailForwardingAddress
mailQuota,mailMsgQuota
preferredLanguage
sn
uid
vacationEndDate
vacationStartDate

For more information on the attributes required or allowed by LDAP object classes for Communications Express, see Sun Java Communications Suite 5 Schema Reference

You might want to obtain other customized LDAP attributes from the server. For example, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) might have a custom LDAP attribute assigned to all users called myuserclass. This attribute could denote different types of users that access services, including Communications Express. Possible values for this attribute are regular and vip.

Before adding custom attributes to the directory, ensure that the directory schema supports these new attributes. The global set of schema for Directory Server can be found in the entry named cn=schema.

For more information on extending directory schema, see Sun Java System Directory Server Enterprise Edition 6.0 Administration Guide.

After extending the directory schema, you can add the new attribute to a user or a group entry. To add custom attribute to a user entry you need to modify the entry in servletsconf section using the ldapmodify command. For more information on ldapmodify command, see Sun Java System Directory Server Enterprise Edition 6.0 Man Page Reference:

Depending on the type of user ( the value of the myuserclass LDAP attribute), different advertisements are presented to the user when they log into Communications Express (Communications Express is customized to display banner advertisement). If the customized client has access to the myuserclass LDAP attribute, the type of user can be determined and the relevant banner advertisement for that user type is displayed.

To obtain other customized LDAP attributes from the server, use the configutil command to modify the service.http.extrauserldapattrs configuration parameter. The attributes are read-only by default. If the user wants to modify an attribute using the Communications Express code, the attribute needs to be marked read-write by appending the suffix.

Example 6–2 assumes the user wants to display banner advertisements depending on the class of the user and that the client program allows the user to edit a link to a home page:

Example 6–2 Display of Banner Advertisements Depending on the User Class:

configutil -l -o service.http.extrauserldapattrs -v 
				“myuserclass,homepage:w “