When using pointer CoS or classic CoS, the template entry contains the LDAPsubentry and cosTemplate object classes. This entry must be created specifically for the CoS definition. Making the CoS template entry an instance of the LDAPsubentry object class allows ordinary searches to be performed unhindered by the configuration entries.
The template of the indirect CoS mechanism is an arbitrary, existing entry in the directory. The target does not need to be identified ahead of time or given the LDAPsubentry object class, but the target must have the auxiliary cosTemplate object class. The indirect CoS template is accessed only when the CoS is evaluated to generate a computed attribute and its value.
In all cases, the CoS template entry must contain the attribute and the value that is generated by the CoS on the target entries. The attribute name is specified in the cosAttribute attribute of the CoS definition entry.
The following example shows a template entry of the highest priority for a pointer CoS that generates the postalCode attribute:
dn: cn=ZipTemplate,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com objectclass: top objectclass: LDAPsubentry objectclass: extensibleobject objectclass: cosTemplate postalCode: 95054 cosPriority: 0 |
The following sections provide examples of template entries along with examples of each type of CoS definition entry.
The following command creates a pointer CoS definition entry that has the cosPointerDefinition object class. This definition entry uses the CoS template entry that is stated in the example in the previous section to share a common postal code among all entries in the ou=People,dc=example,dc=com tree.
$ ldapmodify -a -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w - dn: cn=pointerCoS,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com objectclass: top objectclass: LDAPsubentry objectclass: cosSuperDefinition objectclass: cosPointerDefinition cosTemplateDn: cn=ZipTemplate,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com cosAttribute: postalCode |
The CoS template entry (cn=ZipTemplate,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com ) supplies the value stored in its postalCode attribute to all entries located under the ou=People,dc=example,dc=com suffix. If you search for any entry that does not have a postal code in the same subtree, you will see the value of the generated attribute:
$ ldapsearch -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w - \ -b "ou=People,dc=example,dc=com" -s sub "(cn=*Jensen)" dn: cn=Babs Jensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com cn: Babs Jensen ... postalCode: 95054 |
Indirect CoS names an attribute in the cosIndirectSpecifier attribute to locate the template specific to each target. The template entry for indirect CoS may be any entry in the directory, including other user entries. This example indirect CoS uses the manager attribute of the target entry to identify the CoS template entry. The template entry is the manager’s user entry. The manager’s user entry contains the value of the attribute to generate. The value is that of departmentNumber in this case.
The following command creates the indirect CoS definition entry, which contains the cosIndirectDefinition object class:
$ ldapmodify -a -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w - dn: cn=generateDeptNum,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com objectclass: top objectclass: LDAPsubentry objectclass: cosSuperDefinition objectclass: cosIndirectDefinition cosIndirectSpecifier: manager cosAttribute: departmentNumber |
Next, add the cosTemplate object class to the template entries, and make sure that they define the attribute to be generated. In this example, all manager entries are templates:
$ ldapmodify -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w - dn: cn=Carla Fuentes,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com changetype: modify add: objectclass objectclass: cosTemplate - add: departmentNumber departmentNumber: 318842 |
With this CoS, target entries (the entries under ou=People,dc=example,dc=com) that contain the manager attribute automatically have the department number of their manager. The departmentNumber attribute is computed on the target entries because it does not exist in the server. However, the departmentNumber attribute is returned as part of the target entry. For example, if Babs Jensen’s manager is defined to be Carla Fuentes, her department number is the following:
$ ldapsearch -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w - \ -b "ou=People,dc=example,dc=com" -s sub "(cn=*Jensen)" dn: cn=Babs Jensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com cn: Babs Jensen ... manager: cn=Carla Fuentes,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com departmentNumber: 318842 |
This example shows how to generate a postal address with a classic CoS. The generated value is specified in a template entry that is located by a combination of the cosTemplateDN in the CoS definition and the value of the cosSpecifier attribute in the target entry. The following command creates the definition entry by using the cosClassicDefinition object class:
$ ldapmodify -a -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w - dn: cn=classicCoS,dc=example,dc=com objectclass: top objectclass: LDAPsubentry objectclass: cosSuperDefinition objectclass: cosClassicDefinition cosTemplateDn: ou=People,dc=example,dc=com cosSpecifier: building cosAttribute: postalAddress |
Using the same command, create the template entries that give the postal address for each building:
dn: cn=B07,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com objectclass: top objectclass: LDAPsubentry objectclass: extensibleobject objectclass: cosTemplate postalAddres: 7 Old Oak Street, Anytown, CA 95054 |
With this CoS, target entries (the entries under ou=People,dc=example,dc=com) that contain the building attribute will automatically have the corresponding postal address. The CoS mechanism searches for a template entry that has the specifier attribute value in its RDN. In this example, if Babs Jensen is assigned to building B07, her postal address is generated as follows:
$ ldapsearch -h host1 -p 1389 -D cn=admin,cn=Administrators,cn=config -w - \ -b "ou=People,dc=example,dc=com" -s sub "(cn=*Jensen)" dn: cn=Babs Jensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com cn: Babs Jensen ... building: B07 postalAddress: 7 Old Oak Street, Anytown, CA 95054 |