LDAP Programming with Java™

Rob Weltman is Director of the Directory Management Solutions Group at Netscape and is the designer of the Directory SDK for Java. Tony Dahbura is a Lead Engineer at Netscape. He specializes in LDAP implementation and planning, as well as the use of the Java language to facilitate LDAP access and usage. 0201657589AB04062001

Preface.


Acknowledgments.


Introduction.


1. What Can You Find in a Directory?


What Is a Directory?



What Is That Phone Number?



Directory Clients for an Online Phone Book.



Is He Really Who He Says He Is?



Working Together.



Computers, Printers, Toasters.



2. The Lingua Franca of Directories Is LDAP.


A Brief History of Electronic Directories.



I Heard It through the Grapevine.



Directories for the Internet.



>Directories for a Single Network: Proprietary Solutions.



X.500: The "Heavyweight" Directory Service.



From Humble Beginnings.



Future Directions for LDAP.



The LDAP Information and Naming Models: How Directories Are Organized.



The LDAP Information Model.



The LDAP Naming Model.



LDAP Spoken Here.



Many Roads to Rome.



Directory SDK for C.



Directory SDK for Java.



Java Naming and Directory Interface.



3. May We Introduce Directory SDK for Java.


What Directory SDK for Java Can Do for You: Freedom from Protocol Handling.



The Use of Standard Java Objects for Returning and Processing Data: Utility Classes for Handling LDAP-Specific Entities.



Full Access to All LDAP Services.



Flexible Authentication Models.



Write Once, Run Anywhere.



Multilayered Functionality.



A Platform for Directory-Enabled Applications.



What Else Can the SDK Do for Me?



Dynamic Organizational Chart.



Directory-Linking Tool.



Access Control for Existing or New Applications.



Installation and Setup of the SDK.



Staying Current.



Installing the SDK.



Conclusion.

II. GETTING STARTED.

4. Setting Up Your Own Directory.


Downloading and Installing Netscape Directory Server.



Before You Download and Install the Software.



Downloading Netscape Directory Server.



Installing Netscape Directory Server.



Setting Up the Sample Database.



Using the Command-Line Tools with Your New Directory.



Finding Entries with LDAPSearch.



Adding Entries to the Directory.



Understanding LDIF: How to Describe a Directory Entry.



Object Classes: Determining What Information Makes Up an Entry.



Choosing a Distinguished Name: Where Do You Want to Add the Entry?



Examples of Defining and Adding Entries.



Conclusion.

5. Searching with the SDK.


Our First Search.



Host Name.



Port.



Base DN.



Scope.



Filter.



Attributes.



Search Preferences.



Our First Search Program.



Using Search Filters.



Handling Results.



Attributes in Detail.



I Want Only One Record and I Have the DN.



Searching and Comparing.



More on Filters.



Sorting.



Authenticating for Searches.



Improving Directory Search Performance.



Use Indexed Attributes.



Specify an Object Class to Get Only Entries of the Desired Type.



Retrieve Only Attributes You Need.



Keep the DN Handy.



Use compare Where It Makes Sense.



Conclusion.

6. Creating and Maintaining Information.


Before We Can Update: Authentication Basics.



Adding an Entry.



Summary of Steps to Add a New Entry.



Inserting Records from a Data File.



Adding an Organizational Unit.



Processing Exceptions.



Modifying an Existing Entry.



Summary of Steps to Modify an Existing Entry.



Adding an Attribute.



Modifying an Attribute.



Removing an Attribute.



Updating Multivalued Attributes.



Storing Binary Data.



Storing Preferences and State.



Deleting an Entry.



Renaming an Entry: Modifying the RDN.



Managing Groups.



Adding a User to a Group.



Removing a User from a Group.



Using the LDAPIsMember Bean.



Conclusion.

7. Securing the Data.


No Standards for Access Control.



Setting Up an Access Control List.



Viewing Access Control Lists through LDAP.



Modifying Access Control Lists through LDAP.



Authenticating to the Directory.



Using Password-Based Authentication.



Communicating over Secure Sockets Layer.



Using Certificate-Based Authentication.



Using SASL Authentication.



Authenticating with SASL in LDAP.



Callbacks in SASL.



The SASL Framework Classes.



Preparing to Use an Existing Mechanism.



Your Own SaslClient and ClientFactory.



Conclusion.

III. GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY.

8. More Power to the Browser: An Applet That Speaks LDAP.


What's So Different about an Applet?



Certificates and Signed Applets.



Writing LDAP Applets for Netscape Navigator.



Requesting Connection Privileges.



Packaging Your Applet.



Generating a Test Certificate.



Signing Your Code.



Testing Your Applet.



Using the Codebase as a Principal.



Writing LDAP Applets for Microsoft Internet Explorer.



Requesting Connection Privileges.



Packaging Your Applet.



Generating a Test Certificate.



Signing Your Code.



Creating a Web Page for the Applet.



Writing LDAP Applets for Java Plug-In Software.



Packaging Your Applet.



Generating a Key Pair and Self-signed Certificate.



Signing Your Code.



Setting Up the End Useris System.



A Directory Viewer Applet.



A Simple Example for Java Plug-In Software.



Conclusion.

9. Scripting LDAP: JavaScript and Java.


Accessing Java Applets from JavaScript.



Accessing Java Objects from JavaScript.



JavaScript Gotchas.



Handling Java Exceptions in JavaScript.



Handling Arrays of Strings.



Requesting Privileges and Signing Your JavaScript Code.



Accessing the LDAP Classes from JScript in Internet Explorer.



Conclusion.

10. Don't Redo It, Reuse It: LDAP JavaBeans.


Invisible LDAP JavaBeans.



LDAPBasePropertySupport.



LDAPSimpleAuth.



LDAPGetEntries.



Directory-Based Authentication in JavaScript.



Using PropertyChangeEvent Notifications.



Graphical LDAP JavaBeans.



A Directory Browser.



A Directory Lister.



Conclusion.

11. Make Your Application Location-Independent.


The Teex Multicharacter-Set Text Editor.



The Teex JavaBean.



A Class for User Preferences.



Storing Preferences as Attributes in User Entries.



Saving Preferences as an Object in the Directory.



Using Directory Structure to Model Attributes.



Conclusion.

12. Modeling Relationships.


Mirroring an Organizational Structure.



Attributes as Pointers.



Parsing the Reporting Relationships in a Directory.



An Alternative Strategy for Management Parsing.



An Organizational Chart Tree Component.



A More Traditional Organizational Chart Component.



Inspecting Properties of an Entry.



Connecting the Property Table and the Directory Viewers.



Conclusion.

13. Servlets and LDAP.


Overview of Servlets.



Uses of LDAP in Servlets.



Designing the LDAP Servlet.



Location of Files.



Our Phone Book Servlet.



Phone Book Lookups.



Accessibility with a Simple Browser.



Utilizing the Corporate LDAP Directory.



Customizability.



Search Attributes.



Intranet and Extranet.



User Self-administration.



Connection Pooling and Data Caching.



Accessibility over SSL.



Connection-Pooling Class.



Servlet Request-Response Model.



Setting Up and Using the Servlet.



Tips for Servlet Developers.



Conclusion.

IV. BEYOND THE BASICS.

14. Options and Constraints.


How Do They Affect Me?



A View into Options.



TimeLimit.



Referrals.



BindProc.



ReBindProc.



HopLimit.



Constraints for Searching.



ServerTimeLimit.



Dereference.



MaxResults.



BatchSize.



MaxBackLog.



Conclusion.

15. Odds and Ends.


LDAP URLs.



An IETF Standard.



Using LDAP URLs in Java.



Not Your Average URL.



A Rose by Any Other Name.



When What You Read Is Not What You Wrote.



Sometimes One Thread Is Not Enough.



Don't Step on My Settings.



A Cloned Connection Is a Safe Connection.



Performance, and How to Get It.



Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: Avoid Unnecessary Connections.



Pool the Connections.



Fewer But Better Searches.



To Cache or Not to Cache.



Conclusion.

16. Advanced Topics.


Information about Information: Managing the Schema.



Programmatic Access through the Schema Classes.



A Pretty Printer for Schema Contents.



Controls: An Essential Extension.



Too Much Data: A Virtual List View.



Call Me When You're Ready: Persistent Search.



Password Expiration Notification.



Trust Me: The Proxied Authorization Control.



Your Very Own Controls: Using the BER Package.



When the Data Lives Elsewhere: Managing Referrals.



Catching and Processing Referral Exceptions.



Automatic Referrals: Anonymous or under Client Control.



The manageDsaIT Control.



LDAPBind for Complete Client Control.



And Now for Something Completely Different: Extended Operations.



Aiming for 24 x 7: Failover and Reconnecting.



Transparent Reconnection.



Controlling the Result Queue: The Connection Backlog.



Down to the Wire: Using the Asynchronous Interface.



Conclusion.

Appendix A: More to Learn About LDAP.


Going to the Source: Internet Standards.



Where to Get RFCs and Internet Drafts.



LDAP RFCs.



LDAP Internet Drafts.



X.500 Documents.



Books about LDAP.



LDAP Concepts and Deployment.



LDAP Programming.



X.500.



LDAP Information on the Internet.



LDAP FAQs and Presentations.



LDAP Client SDKs.



Add-On Products for LDAP Directories.



Collections of LDAP Documents and Links.



X.500.



Miscellaneous.



Newsgroups Where LDAP Is Spoken.



LDAP in Your Inbox.



LDAP Servers at Your Disposal.

Appendix B: Classes of the LDAP SDK.


The netscape.ldap Package.



LDAPConnection and Connection Management.



Basic LDAP Message and Data Encapsulation.



Handling Messages from the Server.



Authentication and Reauthentication.



Exceptions.



Controls.



Caching.



Client-Side Sorting.



Schema Representation.



Miscellaneous Utility Classes.



The netscape.ldap.util Package.



DNs and RDNs.



LDIF Reader Classes.



Connection Pool.

STYLE="margin-left: 0.4in;">The util Package.

Appendix C: Common LDAP Schema Elements.


Object Classes.



Abstract Object Classes.



Structural Object Classes.



Auxiliary Object Classes.



Attributes.



Attribute Syntaxes.



Attribute Types

Appendix D: LDAP Error Codes.
Index. 0201657589T04062001