INTERNET-DRAFT
 draft-ietf-ldup-subentry-08.txt
                                                      Ed Reed
                                          Reed-Matthews, Inc.
                                                April 6, 2001
 
                     LDAP Subentry Schema
 
 
 1  Status of this Memo
 
 This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full
 conformance with all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.
 
 Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet
 Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working
 groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working
 documents as Internet-Drafts.
 
 Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of
 six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by
 other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use
 Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other
 than as "work in progress."
 
 The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
 http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt.
 
 The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be
 accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.
 
 This Internet-Draft expires on October 6, 2001.
 
 
 2  Abstract / Description
 
 This document describes an administrative model for LDAP,
 and an object class called ldapSubEntry and a control
 ldapSubentriesControl (to control the visibility of entries
 of type ldapSubEntry) that are to be used by directory
 servers claiming support for the administrative model
 defined here.
 
  The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL",
 "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY",
 and  "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as
 described in [RFC2119]. The sections below reiterate these
 definitions and include some additional ones.
 
 
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 3  Table of Contents
 
 1  Status of this Memo                                          1
 2  Abstract / Description                                       1
 3  Table of Contents                                            2
 4  Administrative Areas in the Directory                        2
 4.1  X.501 Administrative Model Overview                         2
 4.2  An LDAP Administrative Model                                3
 5  Object Class Definitions                                     4
 5.1  ldapSubEntry Class                                          4
 5.1.1     Naming and Structure constraints                       4
 5.1.2     Scope Rules                                            5
 6  Visibility Control                                           6
 6.1  ldapSubentriesControl                                       6
 6.1.1     Other LDAP operations                                  6
 6.1.2     Correspondence to [X511]                               6
 7  Security Considerations                                      7
 8  References                                                   7
 9  Copyright Notice                                             8
 10 Acknowledgements                                             8
 11 Author's Address                                             9
 
 
 
 4  Administrative Areas in the Directory
 
 
 4.1 X.501 Administrative Model Overview
 
 [X501] contains the definitive description of
 Administrative Areas and their role in the management and
 administration of directories.  The LDAP administrative
 model defined here is intended to be a compatible, proper
 subset of the [X501] model.  The description here draws
 heavily on the descriptions and concepts laid out in
 [X501].
 
 An administrative area is a sub-tree of the directory
 information tree, rooted at an administrative point (the
 root-most entry in the sub-tree), where administrative
 entries (perhaps including subentries, operational
 attributes, or both) are located.  Autonomous
 administrative areas are distinct partitions of the
 directory information tree whose entries are all
 administered by a single administrative authority.  Each
 entry in the directory information tree is administered by
 exactly one autonomous administrative authority.
 
 
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 There may be many aspects of administration defined by the
 directory and other applications for specific purposes,
 such as subschema administration areas, access control
 administration areas, collective-attribute administration
 areas, context default administrative areas, and service
 administrative areas.  Within an autonomous administrative
 area, specific administrative areas for these (and other)
 different aspects may overlap one another.
 
 Specific administrative areas may be sub-partitioned by the
 applications or services which define them to facilitate
 delegation of authority or for other purposes.  That means
 that a single entry in the directory may be part of many
 different specific administrative areas, but only be part
 of one specific administrative area (or sub-area) of each
 aspect of administration.
 
 The [X501] subentry specification optionally uses a
 SubtreeSpecification to indicate a subset of entries in a
 sub-tree with which the subentry is concerned.  When the
 SubtreeSpecification is empty the scope of the [X501]
 subentry is implicitly defined by the context in which it
 occurs.
 
 4.2 An LDAP Administrative Model
 
 The administrative model for LDAP defined here is a
 simplified version of the one described in [X501], in that
 the scope defined for the ldapSubentry object class is
 limited.
 
 The LDAP Subentry definition below specifically does not
 include a SubtreeSpecification, so its scope is explicitly
 the complete set of entries in the specific administrative
 area (or sub-area) in which it occurs.  All administrative
 areas are considered to be specific administrative areas
 within an autonomous administrative area.
 
 If a specific administration area is not partitioned, then
 its extent (or scope) is said to be that of the autonomous
 administrative area in which it is defined.
 
 Applications and services which define specific
 administrative areas must specify whether the areas may be
 partitioned or not.  By default, the scope of LDAP
 Subentries is limited to the sub-area of the partitioned
 specific administrative area in which they are present.
 
 
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 5  Object Class Definition
 
 
 5.1 ldapSubEntry Class
 
 ( 2.16.840.1.113719.2.142.6.1.1 NAME 'ldapSubEntry'
    DESC 'LDAP Subentry class, version 1'
      SUP top STRUCTURAL
      MAY ( cn ) )
 
 The class ldapSubEntry is intended to be used as a super-
 class when defining other structural classes to be used as
 LDAP Subentries, and as the structural class to which
 Auxiliary classes may be added for application specific
 subentry information.  Where possible, the use of Auxiliary
 classes to extend LDAP Subentries is strongly preferred.
 
 The presence of ldapSubEntry in the list of super-classes
 of an entry in the directory makes that entry an LDAP
 Subentry.  Object classes derived from ldapSubEntry are
 themselves considered ldapSubEntry classes, for the purpose
 of this discussion.
 
 
 5.1.1Naming and Structure constraints
 
 LDAP Subentries MAY be named by their commonName attribute
 [RFC2251].  Other naming attributes are also permitted.
 For compatibility with [X501], the commonName attribute is
 optional ([X501] requires EITHER cn OR a
 SubTreeSpecification), but note that in the absence of any
 other naming attribute, a cn is required to name the LDAP
 Subentry.
 
 LDAP Subentries MAY be containers, unlike their [X501]
 counterparts.  This is a departure from [X501], but is
 considered an important extension to increase the ability
 to more easily construct richer (i.e., more complex) policy
 representations in the directory using LDAP Subentries.
 Using LDAP Subentry containers to hold entries that are not
 themselves LDAP Subentries is prohibited, as that would
 significantly affect compatibility with [X501] services.
 
 LDAP Subentries MAY be contained by, and will usually be
 located in the directory information tree immediately
 subordinate to their administrative points.  LDAP
 Subentries MAY also be contained by other LDAP Subentries
 (the way organizational units may be contained by other
 
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 organizational units).  Deep nesting of LDAP Subentries are
 discouraged, but not prohibited.  Developers are warned
 that deep nesting of LDAP Subentries may not be supported
 by all (or indeed, by any) LDAP server implementations.
 For compatibility with [X501], a sub-tree made up of a
 collection of LDAP Subentries may be mapped onto a single
 (possibly very complex) [X501] subentry, and vice versa.
 
 
 5.1.2Scope Rules
 
 The default scope of an LDAP Subentry is limited to the
 specific administrative area (or sub-area) in which it is
 defined.  Specifically, the subtree of the directory
 namespace based at the administrative point most
 immediately superior to the LDAP Subentry, down to but not
 including any subordinate administrative points or areas of
 the same aspect or type.  Policy defined in an LDAP
 Subentry is not inheritable, unless such inheritance is
 explicitly defined by an application-specific policy.
 
 If an LDAP Subentry is subordinate to another LDAP
 Subentry, it takes the same default scope as the parent
 LDAP Subentry.
 
 Applications MAY define alternative scope semantics for
 classes they define which are derived from the ldapSubEntry
 class. This means that an application can derive a new
 class from the ldapSubEntry class and add an attribute,
 like SubTreeSpecification [X501] to define a new scope rule
 for that application to use.
 
 Applications MUST NOT define alternative scope rules for
 auxiliary classes used to decorate entries of the
 ldapSubEntry class.  This restriction is required to avoid
 having conflicting or contradictory scope definitions
 applied by different applications to the same LDAP
 Subentry.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 6  Visibility Control
 
 
 6.1 ldapSubentriesControl
 
 This control is included in the searchRequest message as
 part of the controls field of the LDAPMessage, as defined
 in Section 4.1.12 of [RFC2251].
 
 The controlType is set to "1.3.6.1.4.1.7628.5.101.1". The
 criticality MAY be set to either TRUE or FALSE.  The
 controlValue is absent.
 
 There is no corresponding response control defined.
 
 LDAP servers that support this control MUST treat LDAP
 Subentries as "operational objects" in much the same way
 that "operational attributes" are not returned in search
 results and [X511] read operations when only user
 attributes are requested.
 
 Entries which are not LDAP Subentries may be referenced in
 the base object of search operations where the
 ldapSubentriesControl is present in the request.
 
 In the absence of the LDAP Subentries visibility control,
 subentries are not visible to search operations UNLESS the
 target/base of the operation is a subentry.
 
 In presence of the subentry visibility control, ONLY
 subentries are visible.
 
 6.1.1Other LDAP operations
 
 The ldapSubentriesControl is not defined for any LDAP
 operation other than Search.  However, an LDAPv3 Extension
 MAY define a use of this control with that extension as
 long as such use is consistent with this specification.
 
 
 6.1.2Correspondence to [X511]
 
 In presence of the visibility control, the semantics of the
 LDAPSubentriesControl are in accordance with the indication
 of the [X511] common argument serviceControls options
 subentries being set.
 
 
 
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 In [X511] a ServiceControl option is used to govern the
 visibility of [X501] subentries.  The subentry
 ServiceControl option is a specific bit of a bitstring
 that, when set in the common arguments of an [X511] Search
 or List operation, indicates that the operation is to
 access ONLY the subentries found in the context of the list
 or search.  In fact, normal entries are explicitly NOT
 returned in the result of a list or search operation when
 the [X511] subentries ServiceControl is set.
 
 Entries which are not subentries may be used in the base
 object of list and search operations where the subentries
 control is set.
 
 The [X511] subentries ServiceControl has no meaning for
 operations other than Search and List (i.e., it is not
 defined for Read, Modify, Delete, etc.).
 
 
 
 7  Security Considerations
 
 LDAP Subentries will frequently be used to hold data which
 reflects either the actual or intended behavior of the
 directory service.  As such, permission to read such
 entries MAY need to be restricted to authorized users.
 More importantly, if a directory service treats the
 information in an LDAP Subentry as the authoritative source
 of policy to be used to control the behavior of the
 directory, then permission to create, modify, or delete
 such entries MUST be carefully restricted to authorized
 administrators.
 
 
 
 8  References
 
 [RFC2119] S. Bradner, "Key words for use in RFCs to
 Indicate Requirement Levels", RFC 2119, March 1997
 
 [RFC2251] S. Kille, M. Wahl, and T. Howes, "Lightweight
 Directory Access Protocol (v3)", RFC 2251, December 1997
 
 [X501] ITU-T Rec. X.501, "The Directory: Models", 1993 and
 subsequent versions
 
 [X501] ITU-T Rec. X.511, "The Directory: Abstract Service
 Definition", 1993 and subsequent versions
 
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 9  Copyright Notice
 
 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights
 Reserved.
 
 This document and translations of it may be copied and
 furnished to others, and derivative works that comment on
 or otherwise explain it or assist in its implementation may
 be prepared, copied, published and distributed, in whole or
 in part, without restriction of any kind, provided that the
 above copyright notice and this paragraph are included on
 all such copies and derivative works. However, this
 document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by
 removing the copyright notice or references to the Internet
 Society or other Internet organizations, except as needed
 for the purpose of developing Internet standards in which
 case the procedures for copyrights defined in the Internet
 Standards process must be followed, or as required to
 translate it into languages other than English.
 
 The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and
 will not be revoked by the Internet Society or its
 successors or assigns.
 
 This document and the information contained herein is
 provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND
 THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL
 WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
 TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL
 NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
 MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE."
 
 
 10 Acknowledgements
 
 The utility of subEntry object class was originally
 suggested as a means to store Replica and Replication
 Agreement information with a the lucid explanation by Mark
 Wahl, (then of Innosoft), of how they could be used and
 extended.
 
 The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope
 of any intellectual property or other rights that might be
 claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the
 technology described in this document or the extent to
 which any license under such rights might or might not be
 available; neither does it represent that it has made any
 effort to identify any such rights. Information on the
 
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 IETF's procedures with respect to rights in standards-track
 and standards-related documentation can be found in BCP-11.
 Copies of claims of rights made available for publication
 and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the
 result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or
 permission for the use of such proprietary rights by
 implementers or users of this specification can be obtained
 from the IETF Secretariat.
 
 The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its
 attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications,
 or other proprietary rights which may cover technology that
 may be required to practice this standard. Please address
 the information to the IETF Executive Director.
 
 
 11 Author's Address
 
      Edwards E. Reed
      Reed-Matthews, Inc.
      1064 E 140 North
      Lindon, UT  84042
      USA
      E-mail: eer@oncalldba.com
 
      LDUP Mailing List: ietf-ldup@imc.org
      LDAPEXT Mailing List: ietf-ldapext@netscape.com
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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