7 Network Working Group S. Kille
8 Request for Comments: 2247 Isode Ltd.
9 Category: Standards Track M. Wahl
21 Using Domains in LDAP/X.500 Distinguished Names
26 This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
27 Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
28 improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
29 Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
30 and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
34 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998). All Rights Reserved.
38 The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) uses X.500-
39 compatible distinguished names [3] for providing unique
40 identification of entries.
42 This document defines an algorithm by which a name registered with
43 the Internet Domain Name Service [2] can be represented as an LDAP
48 The Domain (Nameserver) System (DNS) provides a hierarchical resource
49 labeling system. A name is made up of an ordered set of components,
50 each of which are short strings. An example domain name with two
51 components would be "CRITICAL-ANGLE.COM".
58 Kille, et. al. Standards Track [Page 1]
60 RFC 2247 Using Domains in LDAP/X.500 January 1998
63 LDAP-based directories provide a more general hierarchical naming
64 framework. A primary difference in specification of distinguished
65 names from domain names is that each component of an distinguished
66 name has an explicit attribute type indication.
68 X.500 does not mandate any particular naming structure. It does
69 contain suggested naming structures which are based on geographic and
70 national regions, however there is not currently an established
71 registration infrastructure in many regions which would be able to
72 assign or ensure uniqueness of names.
74 The mechanism described in this document automatically provides an
75 enterprise a distinguished name for each domain name it has obtained
76 for use in the Internet. These distinguished names may be used to
77 identify objects in an LDAP directory.
79 An example distinguished name represented in the LDAP string format
80 [3] is "DC=CRITICAL-ANGLE,DC=COM". As with a domain name, the most
81 significant component, closest to the root of the namespace, is
84 This document does not define how to represent objects which do not
85 have domain names. Nor does this document define the procedure to
86 locate an enterprise's LDAP directory server, given their domain
87 name. Such procedures may be defined in future RFCs.
89 3. Mapping Domain Names into Distinguished Names
91 This section defines a subset of the possible distinguished name
92 structures for use in representing names allocated in the Internet
93 Domain Name System. It is possible to algorithmically transform any
94 Internet domain name into a distinguished name, and to convert these
95 distinguished names back into the original domain names.
97 The algorithm for transforming a domain name is to begin with an
98 empty distinguished name (DN) and then attach Relative Distinguished
99 Names (RDNs) for each component of the domain, most significant (e.g.
100 rightmost) first. Each of these RDNs is a single
101 AttributeTypeAndValue, where the type is the attribute "DC" and the
102 value is an IA5 string containing the domain name component.
104 Thus the domain name "CS.UCL.AC.UK" can be transformed into
106 DC=CS,DC=UCL,DC=AC,DC=UK
114 Kille, et. al. Standards Track [Page 2]
116 RFC 2247 Using Domains in LDAP/X.500 January 1998
119 Distinguished names in which there are one or more RDNs, all
120 containing only the attribute type DC, can be mapped back into domain
121 names. Note that this document does not define a domain name
122 equivalence for any other distinguished names.
124 4. Attribute Type Definition
126 The DC (short for domainComponent) attribute type is defined as
129 ( 0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.25 NAME 'dc' EQUALITY caseIgnoreIA5Match
130 SUBSTR caseIgnoreIA5SubstringsMatch
131 SYNTAX 1.3.6.1.4.1.1466.115.121.1.26 SINGLE-VALUE )
133 The value of this attribute is a string holding one component of a
134 domain name. The encoding of IA5String for use in LDAP is simply the
135 characters of the string itself. The equality matching rule is case
136 insensitive, as is today's DNS.
138 5. Object Class Definitions
140 An object with a name derived from its domain name using the
141 algorithm of section 3 is represented as an entry in the directory.
142 The "DC" attribute is present in the entry and used as the RDN.
144 An attribute can only be present in an entry held by an LDAP server
145 when that attribute is permitted by the entry's object class.
147 This section defines two object classes. The first, dcObject, is
148 intended to be used in entries for which there is an appropriate
149 structural object class. For example, if the domain represents a
150 particular organization, the entry would have as its structural
151 object class 'organization', and the 'dcObject' class would be an
152 auxiliary class. The second, domain, is a structural object class
153 used for entries in which no other information is being stored. The
154 domain object class is typically used for entries that are
155 placeholders or whose domains do not correspond to real-world
158 5.1. The dcObject object class
160 The dcObject object class permits the dc attribute to be present in
161 an entry. This object class is defined as auxiliary, as it would
162 typically be used in conjunction with an existing structural object
163 class, such as organization, organizationalUnit or locality.
165 The following object class, along with the dc attribute, can be added
170 Kille, et. al. Standards Track [Page 3]
172 RFC 2247 Using Domains in LDAP/X.500 January 1998
175 ( 1.3.6.1.4.1.1466.344 NAME 'dcObject' SUP top AUXILIARY MUST dc )
177 An example entry would be:
179 dn: dc=critical-angle,dc=com
181 objectClass: organization
182 objectClass: dcObject
184 o: Critical Angle Inc.
186 5.2. The domain object class
188 If the entry does not correspond to an organization, organizational
189 unit or other type of object for which an object class has been
190 defined, then the "domain" object class can be used. The "domain"
191 object class requires that the "DC" attribute be present, and permits
192 several other attributes to be present in the entry.
194 The entry will have as its structural object class the "domain"
197 ( 0.9.2342.19200300.100.4.13 NAME 'domain' SUP top STRUCTURAL
199 MAY ( userPassword $ searchGuide $ seeAlso $ businessCategory $
200 x121Address $ registeredAddress $ destinationIndicator $
201 preferredDeliveryMethod $ telexNumber $ teletexTerminalIdentifier $
202 telephoneNumber $ internationaliSDNNumber $ facsimileTelephoneNumber $
203 street $ postOfficeBox $ postalCode $ postalAddress $
204 physicalDeliveryOfficeName $ st $ l $ description $ o $
207 The optional attributes of the domain class are used for describing
208 the object represented by this domain, and may also be useful when
209 searching. These attributes are already defined for use with LDAP
212 An example entry would be:
214 dn: dc=tcp,dc=critical-angle,dc=com
218 description: a placeholder entry used with SRV records
220 The DC attribute is used for naming entries of the domain class, and
221 this can be represented in X.500 servers by the following name form
226 Kille, et. al. Standards Track [Page 4]
228 RFC 2247 Using Domains in LDAP/X.500 January 1998
231 ( 1.3.6.1.4.1.1466.345 NAME 'domainNameForm' OC domain MUST ( dc ) )
235 [1] The Directory: Selected Attribute Types. ITU-T Recommendation
238 [2] Mockapetris, P., " Domain Names - Concepts and Facilities,"
239 STD 13, RFC 1034, November 1987.
241 [3] Kille, S., and M. Wahl, " Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
242 (v3): UTF-8 String Representation of Distinguished Names", RFC
245 [4] Wahl, M., "A Summary of the X.500(96) User Schema for use with
246 LDAP", RFC 2256, December 1997.
248 7. Security Considerations
250 This memo describes how attributes of objects may be discovered and
251 retrieved. Servers should ensure that an appropriate security policy
254 An enterprise is not restricted in the information which it may store
255 in DNS or LDAP servers. A client which contacts an untrusted server
256 may have incorrect or misleading information returned (e.g. an
257 organization's server may claim to hold naming contexts representing
258 domain names which have not been delegated to that organization).
260 8. Authors' Addresses
270 Phone: +44-181-332-9091
271 EMail: S.Kille@ISODE.COM
282 Kille, et. al. Standards Track [Page 5]
284 RFC 2247 Using Domains in LDAP/X.500 January 1998
289 4815 W. Braker Lane #502-385
293 Phone: (1) 512 372 3160
294 EMail: M.Wahl@critical-angle.com
299 Room 1C-429, 101 Crawfords Corner Road
300 Holmdel, NJ 07733-3030
308 Room 1B-433, 101 Crawfords Corner Road
309 Holmdel, NJ 07733-3030
317 Room 4G-202, 101 Crawfords Corner Road
318 Holmdel, NJ 07733-3030
338 Kille, et. al. Standards Track [Page 6]
340 RFC 2247 Using Domains in LDAP/X.500 January 1998
343 9. Full Copyright Statement
345 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998). All Rights Reserved.
347 This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
348 others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
349 or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
350 and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
351 kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
352 included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
353 document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
354 the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
355 Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
356 developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
357 copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
358 followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
361 The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
362 revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
364 This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
365 "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
366 TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
367 BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
368 HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
369 MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
394 Kille, et. al. Standards Track [Page 7]