Individual Submission to LDAPExt Working Group R. Harrison
Internet Draft Novell, Inc.
Document: draft-rharrison-ldap-extpartresp-02.txt October 24, 2000
Category: Proposed Standard
Extended Partial Response
Protocol Enhancement to LDAPv3
Status of this Memo
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1. Abstract
This document describes the ExtendedPartialResponse, an element of
LDAPv3 protocol which allows multiple responses to LDAPv3 extended
requests. Extended partial responses are backward compatible with
the existing LDAPv3 Extended Operation defined in [LDAPv3].
2. Conventions used in this document
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].
3. Motivation for the Extended Partial Response
The Extended Operation ([LDAPv3] Section 4.12) was defined in LDAPv3
to allow additional operations to be defined as part of the protocol
without requiring a new revision of the protocol.
The LDAPv3 Extended Operation allows for a single extended response
to each extended request, but this paradigm may not be sufficient
for some directory operations. For instance, the LDAP search
operation is a directory operation that is much more efficient when
multiple partial responses are used to service a single request. The
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LDAPv3 Extended Partial Response October 24, 2000
extended partial response generalizes the current extended operation
definition to give LDAP server implementers the ability to make use
of a single-request-multiple-response paradigm for extended LDAP
operations that require it or that would benefit from it.
Also, a control may modify the behavior of existing LDAP operations
in such a way that a single response is insufficient for the
semantics specified by the control. The extended partial response
can be used to provide a single-request-multiple-response paradigm
in this circumstance.
4. Element of Protocol
The ExtendedPartialResponse is defined as
ExtendedPartialResponse ::= [APPLICATION 25] SEQUENCE {
responseName [0] LDAPOID OPTIONAL,
response [1] OCTET STRING OPTIONAL }
4.1 Usage with LDAPv3 ExtendedRequest
The LDAPv3 ExtendedRequest and ExtendedResponse are defined in
Section 4.12 of [LDAPv3] as
ExtendedRequest ::= [APPLICATION 23] SEQUENCE {
requestName [0] LDAPOID,
requestValue [1] OCTET STRING OPTIONAL }
ExtendedResponse ::= [APPLICATION 24] SEQUENCE {
COMPONENTS OF LDAPResult,
responseName [10] LDAPOID OPTIONAL,
response [11] OCTET STRING OPTIONAL }
An LDAP server responds to an LDAPv3 ExtendedRequest message with
zero or more ExtendedPartialResponse message followed by one
ExtendedResponse message. This ensures backward compatibility with
existing LDAP extensions that do not make use of the
ExtendedPartialResponse. As with all LDAPv3 extensions, LDAPv3
extensions that make use of the ExtendedPartialResponse have
predefined syntax and semantics that are defined in RFCs or are
private to a particular implementation.
4.2 Usage with other LDAPv3 Operations
Any LDAPv3 operation may be extended by the addition of one or more
controls. When a control is defined, part of the controlÆs semantics
may include having the server send one or more
ExtendedPartialResponse messages as part of the response for the
operation when the control is present even though the response to
the operation without the control would not include an
ExtendedPartialResponse. As with all LDAPv3 controls, LDAPv3
controls that make use of the ExtendedPartialResponse have
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LDAPv3 Extended Partial Response October 24, 2000
predefined syntax and semantics that are defined in RFCs or are
private to a particular implementation.
5. Security Considerations
This draft describes an enhancement to the LDAPv3 protocol [LDAPv3].
All security considerations of [LDAPv3] apply to this draft, however
it does not introduce any new security considerations to the LDAPv3
protocol.
6. References
[LDAPv3]
Wahl, M., Howes, T., and S. Kille, "Lightweight Directory
Access Protocol (v3)", RFC 2251, December 1997.
[ReqsKeywords]
Scott Bradner. "Key Words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels". RFC 2119.
7. Acknowledgments
The author would like to acknowledge the readers of the LDAP
Extensions working group mail list who responded to the suggestion
that a multiple-response paradigm might be useful for LDAP extended
requests. Special thanks go to two individuals: David Wilbur who
first introduced the idea on the working group list, and Thomas
Salter, who succinctly summarized the discussion and suggested the
name ExtendedPartialResponse in his summary.
8. Author's Addresses
Roger Harrison
Novell, Inc.
1800 S. Novell Place
Provo, UT 84606
+1 801 861 2642
roger_harrison@novell.com
Appendix A - Document Revision History
A.1 draft-rharrison-ldap-extPartResp-00.doc
Initial revision of draft.
A.2 draft-rharrison-ldap-extPartResp-01.doc
Changed responseName to be optional to align with [LDAPv3]
definition of ExtendedResponse.
A.3 draft-rharrison-ldap-extPartResp-02.doc
Harrison Individual Submission - Expires April 24, 2001 [Page 3]
LDAPv3 Extended Partial Response October 24, 2000
Minor terminology corrections. Clarified use of
ExtendedPartialResponse with LDAPv3 extended operations and other
LDAPv3 operations with controls.
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