1 .TH SLAPD-LDAP 5 "RELEASEDATE" "OpenLDAP LDVERSION"
2 .\" Copyright 1998-2008 The OpenLDAP Foundation All Rights Reserved.
3 .\" Copying restrictions apply. See COPYRIGHT/LICENSE.
6 slapd-ldap \- LDAP backend to slapd
12 is not an actual database; instead it acts as a proxy to forward incoming
13 requests to another LDAP server. While processing requests it will also
14 chase referrals, so that referrals are fully processed instead of being
15 returned to the slapd client.
17 Sessions that explicitly Bind to the back-ldap database always create their
18 own private connection to the remote LDAP server. Anonymous sessions will
19 share a single anonymous connection to the remote server. For sessions bound
20 through other mechanisms, all sessions with the same DN will share the
21 same connection. This connection pooling strategy can enhance the proxy's
22 efficiency by reducing the overhead of repeatedly making/breaking multiple
25 The ldap database can also act as an information service, i.e. the identity
26 of locally authenticated clients is asserted to the remote server, possibly
27 in some modified form.
28 For this purpose, the proxy binds to the remote server with some
29 administrative identity, and, if required, authorizes the asserted identity.
33 The administrative identity of the proxy, on the remote server, must be
34 allowed to authorize by means of appropriate
41 Note: When looping back to the same instance of
43 each connection requires a new thread; as a consequence,
45 must be compiled with thread support, and the \fBthreads\fP parameter
46 may need some tuning; in those cases, one may consider using
48 instead, which performs the relayed operation
49 internally and thus reuses the same connection.
54 options apply to the LDAP backend database.
55 That is, they must follow a "database ldap" line and come before any
56 subsequent "backend" or "database" lines.
57 Other database options are described in the
62 Note: In early versions of back-ldap it was recommended to always set
75 This was required because operational attributes related to entry creation
76 and modification should not be proxied, as they could be mistakenly written
77 to the target server(s), generating an error.
78 The current implementation automatically sets lastmod to \fBoff\fP,
79 so its use is redundant and should be omitted.
83 LDAP server to use. Multiple URIs can be set in a single
85 argument, resulting in the underlying library automatically
86 call the first server of the list that responds, e.g.
88 \fBuri "ldap://host/ ldap://backup-host/"\fP
90 The URI list is space- or comma-separated.
91 Whenever the server that responds is not the first one in the list,
92 the list is rearranged and the responsive server is moved to the head,
93 so that it will be first contacted the next time a connection
98 .B bindmethod=simple|sasl [binddn=<simple DN>] [credentials=<simple password>]
99 .B [saslmech=<SASL mech>] [secprops=<properties>] [realm=<realm>]
100 .B [authcId=<authentication ID>] [authzId=<authorization ID>]
103 .B [tls_cacert=<file>]
104 .B [tls_cacertdir=<path>]
105 .B [tls_reqcert=never|allow|try|demand]
106 .B [tls_ciphersuite=<ciphers>]
107 .B [tls_crlcheck=none|peer|all]
109 Allows to define the parameters of the authentication method that is
110 internally used by the proxy to collect info related to access control,
111 and whenever an operation occurs with the identity of the rootdn
112 of the LDAP proxy database.
113 The identity defined by this directive, according to the properties
114 associated to the authentication method, is supposed to have read access
115 on the target server to attributes used on the proxy for ACL checking.
117 There is no risk of giving away such values; they are only used to
119 The default is to use
121 bind, with empty \fIbinddn\fP and \fIcredentials\fP,
122 which means that the related operations will be performed anonymously.
123 If not set, and if \fBidassert-bind\fP is defined, this latter identity
124 is used instead. See \fBidassert-bind\fP for details.
126 The connection between the proxy database and the remote server
127 associated to this identity is cached regardless of the lifespan
128 of the client-proxy connection that first established it.
130 .B This identity is by no means implicitly used by the proxy
131 .B when the client connects anonymously.
134 feature, instead, in some cases can be crafted to implement that behavior,
135 which is \fIintrinsically unsafe and should be used with extreme care\fP.
136 This directive obsoletes
141 The TLS settings default to the same as the main slapd TLS settings,
144 which defaults to "demand".
148 .B cancel {ABANDON|ignore|exop[-discover]}
149 Defines how to handle operation cancellation.
152 is invoked, so the operation is abandoned immediately.
155 no action is taken and any further response is ignored; this may result
156 in further response messages to be queued for that connection, so it is
157 recommended that long lasting connections are timed out either by
161 so that resources eventually get released.
166 operation (RFC 3909) is issued, resulting in the cancellation
167 of the current operation; the
169 operation waits for remote server response, so its use
170 may not be recommended.
175 extended operation is detected by reading the remote server's root DSE.
178 .B chase-referrals {YES|no}
179 enable/disable automatic referral chasing, which is delegated to the
180 underlying libldap, with rebinding eventually performed if the
181 \fBrebind-as-user\fP directive is used. The default is to chase referrals.
185 This directive causes a cached connection to be dropped an recreated
186 after a given ttl, regardless of being idle or not.
189 .B idassert-authzFrom <authz-regexp>
190 if defined, selects what
192 identities are authorized to exploit the identity assertion feature.
195 follows the rules defined for the
202 for details on the syntax of this field.
207 .B bindmethod=none|simple|sasl [binddn=<simple DN>] [credentials=<simple password>]
208 .B [saslmech=<SASL mech>] [secprops=<properties>] [realm=<realm>]
209 .B [authcId=<authentication ID>] [authzId=<authorization ID>]
210 .B [authz={native|proxyauthz}] [mode=<mode>] [flags=<flags>]
213 .B [tls_cacert=<file>]
214 .B [tls_cacertdir=<path>]
215 .B [tls_reqcert=never|allow|try|demand]
216 .B [tls_ciphersuite=<ciphers>]
217 .B [tls_crlcheck=none|peer|all]
219 Allows to define the parameters of the authentication method that is
220 internally used by the proxy to authorize connections that are
221 authenticated by other databases.
222 The identity defined by this directive, according to the properties
223 associated to the authentication method, is supposed to have auth access
224 on the target server to attributes used on the proxy for authentication
225 and authorization, and to be allowed to authorize the users.
226 This requires to have
228 privileges on a wide set of DNs, e.g.
229 .BR authzTo=dn.subtree:"" ,
230 and the remote server to have
238 for details on these statements and for remarks and drawbacks about
240 The supported bindmethods are
242 \fBnone|simple|sasl\fP
246 is the default, i.e. no \fIidentity assertion\fP is performed.
248 The authz parameter is used to instruct the SASL bind to exploit
250 SASL authorization, if available; since connections are cached,
251 this should only be used when authorizing with a fixed identity
252 (e.g. by means of the
257 Otherwise, the default
259 is used, i.e. the proxyAuthz control (Proxied Authorization, RFC 4370)
260 is added to all operations.
262 The supported modes are:
264 \fB<mode> := {legacy|anonymous|none|self}\fP
270 is given, the proxy always authorizes that identity.
271 .B <authorization ID>
278 The former is supposed to be expanded by the remote server according
279 to the authz rules; see
282 In the latter case, whether or not the
284 prefix is present, the string must pass DN validation and normalization.
288 which implies that the proxy will either perform a simple bind as the
290 or a SASL bind as the
292 and assert the client's identity when it is not anonymous.
293 Direct binds are always proxied.
294 The other modes imply that the proxy will always either perform a simple bind
297 or a SASL bind as the
300 .BR idassert-authzFrom
301 rules (see below), in which case the operation will fail;
302 eventually, it will assert some other identity according to
304 Other identity assertion modes are
308 which respectively mean that the
315 which means that no proxyAuthz control will be used, so the
319 identity will be asserted.
320 For all modes that require the use of the
322 control, on the remote server the proxy identity must have appropriate
324 permissions, or the asserted identities must have appropriate
326 permissions. Note, however, that the ID assertion feature is mostly
327 useful when the asserted identities do not exist on the remote server.
331 \fBoverride,[non-]prescriptive\fP
335 flag is used, identity assertion takes place even when the database
336 is authorizing for the identity of the client, i.e. after binding
337 with the provided identity, and thus authenticating it, the proxy
338 performs the identity assertion using the configured identity and
339 authentication method.
343 flag is used (the default), operations fail with
344 \fIinappropriateAuthentication\fP
345 for those identities whose assertion is not allowed by the
346 .B idassert-authzFrom
350 flag is used, operations are performed anonymously for those identities
351 whose assertion is not allowed by the
352 .B idassert-authzFrom
355 The TLS settings default to the same as the main slapd TLS settings,
358 which defaults to "demand".
360 The identity associated to this directive is also used for privileged
361 operations whenever \fBidassert-bind\fP is defined and \fBacl-bind\fP
362 is not. See \fBacl-bind\fP for details.
364 This directive obsoletes
365 .BR idassert-authcDN ,
366 .BR idassert-passwd ,
369 .BR idassert-method .
373 .B idle-timeout <time>
374 This directive causes a cached connection to be dropped an recreated
375 after it has been idle for the specified time.
378 .B network-timeout <time>
379 Sets the network timeout value after which
380 .BR poll (2)/ select (2)
383 returns in case of no activity.
384 The value is in seconds, and it can be specified as for
388 .B protocol\-version {0,2,3}
389 This directive indicates what protocol version must be used to contact
391 If set to 0 (the default), the proxy uses the same protocol version
392 used by the client, otherwise the requested protocol is used.
393 The proxy returns \fIunwillingToPerform\fP if an operation that is
394 incompatible with the requested protocol is attempted.
397 .B proxy\-whoami {NO|yes}
398 Turns on proxying of the WhoAmI extended operation. If this option is
399 given, back-ldap will replace slapd's original WhoAmI routine with its
400 own. On slapd sessions that were authenticated by back-ldap, the WhoAmI
401 request will be forwarded to the remote LDAP server. Other sessions will
402 be handled by the local slapd, as before. This option is mainly useful
403 in conjunction with Proxy Authorization.
406 .B quarantine <interval>,<num>[;<interval>,<num>[...]]
407 Turns on quarantine of URIs that returned
408 .IR LDAP_UNAVAILABLE ,
409 so that an attempt to reconnect only occurs at given intervals instead
410 of any time a client requests an operation.
411 The pattern is: retry only after at least
413 seconds elapsed since last attempt, for exactly
415 times; then use the next pattern.
418 for the last pattern is "\fB+\fP", it retries forever; otherwise,
419 no more retries occur.
420 The process can be restarted by resetting the \fIolcDbQuarantine\fP
421 attribute of the database entry in the configuration backend.
424 .B rebind-as-user {NO|yes}
425 If this option is given, the client's bind credentials are remembered
426 for rebinds, when trying to re-establish a broken connection,
427 or when chasing a referral, if
433 .B session\-tracking\-request {NO|yes}
434 Adds session tracking control for all requests.
435 The client's IP and hostname, and the identity associated to each request,
436 if known, are sent to the remote server for informational purposes.
437 This directive is incompatible with setting \fIprotocol\-version\fP to 2.
440 .B single\-conn {NO|yes}
441 Discards current cached connection when the client rebinds.
444 .B t-f-support {NO|yes|discover}
445 enable if the remote server supports absolute filters
446 (see \fIdraft-zeilenga-ldap-t-f\fP for details).
449 support is detected by reading the remote server's root DSE.
452 .B timeout [<op>=]<val> [...]
453 This directive allows to set per-operation timeouts.
456 \fB<op> ::= bind, add, delete, modrdn, modify, compare, search\fP
458 The overall duration of the \fBsearch\fP operation is controlled either
459 by the \fBtimelimit\fP parameter or by server-side enforced
460 time limits (see \fBtimelimit\fP and \fBlimits\fP in
463 This \fBtimeout\fP parameter controls how long the target can be
464 irresponsive before the operation is aborted.
465 Timeout is meaningless for the remaining operations,
466 \fBunbind\fP and \fBabandon\fP, which do not imply any response,
467 while it is not yet implemented in currently supported \fBextended\fP
469 If no operation is specified, the timeout \fBval\fP affects all
470 supported operations.
472 Note: if the timelimit is exceeded, the operation is cancelled
473 (according to the \fBcancel\fP directive);
474 the protocol does not provide any means to rollback operations,
475 so the client will not be notified about the result of the operation,
476 which may eventually succeeded or not.
477 In case the timeout is exceeded during a bind operation, the connection
478 is destroyed, according to RFC4511.
480 Note: in some cases, this backend may issue binds prior
481 to other operations (e.g. to bind anonymously or with some prescribed
482 identity according to the \fBidassert-bind\fP directive).
483 In this case, the timeout of the operation that resulted in the bind
488 .B tls {[try-]start|[try-]propagate|ldaps}
491 .B [tls_cacert=<file>]
492 .B [tls_cacertdir=<path>]
493 .B [tls_reqcert=never|allow|try|demand]
494 .B [tls_ciphersuite=<ciphers>]
495 .B [tls_crlcheck=none|peer|all]
497 Specify the use of TLS when a regular connection is initialized. The
498 StartTLS extended operation will be used unless the URI directive protocol
499 scheme is \fBldaps://\fP. In that case this keyword may only be
500 set to "ldaps" and the StartTLS operation will not be used.
501 \fBpropagate\fP issues the StartTLS operation only if the original
503 The \fBtry-\fP prefix instructs the proxy to continue operations
504 if the StartTLS operation failed; its use is \fBnot\fP recommended.
506 The TLS settings default to the same as the main slapd TLS settings,
509 which defaults to "demand".
513 .B use-temporary-conn {NO|yes}
516 create a temporary connection whenever competing with other threads
517 for a shared one; otherwise, wait until the shared connection is available.
519 .SH BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY
520 The LDAP backend has been heavily reworked between releases 2.2 and 2.3,
521 and subsequently between 2.3 and 2.4.
522 As a side-effect, some of the traditional directives have been
523 deprecated and should be no longer used, as they might disappear
527 .B acl-authcDN "<administrative DN for access control purposes>"
528 Formerly known as the
530 it is the DN that is used to query the target server for acl checking;
531 it is supposed to have read access on the target server to attributes used
532 on the proxy for acl checking.
533 There is no risk of giving away such values; they are only used to
536 .B The acl-authcDN identity is by no means implicitly used by the proxy
537 .B when the client connects anonymously.
540 feature can be used (at own risk) for that purpose instead.
542 This directive is obsoleted by the
546 when \fIbindmethod\fP=\fBsimple\fP, and will be dismissed in the future.
549 .B acl-passwd <password>
550 Formerly known as the
552 it is the password used with the above
555 This directive is obsoleted by the
559 when \fIbindmethod\fP=\fBsimple\fP, and will be dismissed in the future.
562 .B idassert-authcDN "<administrative DN for proxyAuthz purposes>"
563 DN which is used to propagate the client's identity to the target
564 by means of the proxyAuthz control when the client does not
565 belong to the DIT fragment that is being proxied by back-ldap.
566 This directive is obsoleted by the
570 when \fIbindmethod\fP=\fBsimple\fP, and will be dismissed in the future.
573 .B idassert-passwd <password>
574 Password used with the
577 This directive is obsoleted by the
581 when \fIbindmethod\fP=\fBsimple\fP, and will be dismissed in the future.
584 .B idassert-mode <mode> [<flags>]
586 .I identity assertion
588 This directive is obsoleted by the
592 and will be dismissed in the future.
595 .B idassert-method <method> [<saslargs>]
596 This directive is obsoleted by the
600 and will be dismissed in the future.
604 this directive is no longer supported. Use the
606 directive as described above.
609 .B server <hostname[:port]>
610 this directive is no longer supported. Use the
612 directive as described above.
615 .B suffixmassage, map, rewrite*
616 These directives are no longer supported by back-ldap; their
617 functionality is now delegated to the
619 overlay. Essentially, add a statement
623 first, and prefix all rewrite/map statements with
625 to obtain the original behavior.
629 .\" However, to ease update from existing configurations, back-ldap still
630 .\" recognizes them and automatically instantiates the
632 .\" overlay if available and not instantiated yet.
633 .\" This behavior may change in the future.
638 backend does not honor all ACL semantics as described in
639 .BR slapd.access (5).
640 In general, access checking is delegated to the remote server(s).
645 pseudo-attribute and to the other attribute values of the entries
648 operation is honored, which is performed by the frontend.
651 The LDAP backend provides basic proxying functionalities to many overlays.
654 overlay, described in
655 .BR slapo\-chain (5),
658 overlay, described in
659 .BR slapo\-translucent (5),
660 deserve a special mention.
662 Conversely, there are many overlays that are best used in conjunction
663 with the LDAP backend.
666 overlay allows caching of LDAP search requests (queries)
669 .BR slapo\-pcache (5)
673 overlay provides DN rewrite and attribute/objectClass mapping
674 capabilities to the underlying database.
682 default slapd configuration file
686 .BR slapo\-chain (5),
687 .BR slapo\-pcache (5),
689 .BR slapo\-translucent (5),
693 Howard Chu, with enhancements by Pierangelo Masarati
projects / openldap / blob