INTERNET-DRAFT Kurt D. Zeilenga
Intended Category: Informational OpenLDAP Foundation
Expires in six months 24 February 2003
The LDAP No-Op Control
<draft-zeilenga-ldap-noop-00.txt>
Status of this Memo
This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all
provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.
This document is intended to be, after appropriate review and
revision, submitted to the RFC Editor as an Informational document.
Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Technical discussion of this
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Copyright 2003, The Internet Society. All Rights Reserved.
Please see the Copyright section near the end of this document for
more information.
Abstract
This document defines the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
No-Op control which can be used to disable the normal effect of an
operation. The control can be used to discover how a server might
react to a particular update request without updating the directory.
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1. Overview
It is often desirable to be able to determine if an operation would
successful complete or not without having the normal effect of the
operation take place. For example, an administrative client might
want to verify that new user can update their entry without making
changes to the entry.
This document defines the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
[RFC3377] No-Op control. The presence of the No-Op control in an
operation request message disables the normal effect of the operation.
For example, when present in a LDAP modify operation [RFC2251], the
modify operation will do all processing necessary to perform the
operation but not actually modify the directory.
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 BCP 14 [RFC2119].
2. No-Op Control
The No-Op control is an LDAP Control [RFC2251] whose controlType is
1.3.6.1.4.1.4203.1.10.2, criticality is TRUE, and controlValue is
absent. Criticality of TRUE is REQUIRED to prevent unintended
modification of the directory. There is no corresponding response
control.
The control is appropriate for LDAP Add, Delete, Modify and Modify DN
operations [RFC2251].
When the control is attached to an LDAP request, the server SHALL do
all normal processing possible for the operation without modification
of the directory. A result code other than success (0) means that the
server is not able or willing to complete the processing for the
reasons indicated by the result code. A result code of success (0)
indicates that the server found no reason why the operation would fail
if submitted without the No-Op control.
Servers SHOULD indicate their support for this control by providing
1.3.6.1.4.1.4203.1.10.2 as a value of the supportedControl attribute
type in their root DSE. A server MAY choose to advertise this
extension only when the client is authorized to use this operation.
3. Security Considerations
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The No-Op control mechanism allows directory administrators (and
users) to verify that access control and other administrative policy
controls are properly configured.
The No-Op control mechanism is believed not to introduce any security
risks beyond those of the base operation it is attached to. Security
considerations for the base operations, as well as general LDAP
security considerations, are discussed discussed in RFCs comprising
the LDAP Technical Specification [RFC3377].
4. IANA Considerations
This OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.4203.1.10.2 to identify the LDAP No-Op contrl.
This OID was assigned [ASSIGN] by OpenLDAP Foundation, under its
IANA-assigned private enterprise allocation [PRIVATE], for use in this
specification.
Registration of this protocol mechansism is requested [RFC3383].
Subject: Request for LDAP Protocol Mechansism Registration
Object Identifier: 1.3.6.1.4.1.4203.1.10.2
Description: No-Op Control
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Kurt Zeilenga <kurt@openldap.org>
Usage: Control
Specification: RFCxxxx
Author/Change Controller:
Kurt Zeilenga <kurt@openldap.org>
Comments: none
5. Author's Address
Kurt D. Zeilenga
OpenLDAP Foundation
<Kurt@OpenLDAP.org>
6. Normative References
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[RFC2119] S. Bradner, "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14 (also RFC 2119), March 1997.
[RFC2251] M. Wahl, T. Howes, S. Kille, "Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol (v3)", RFC 2251, December 1997.
[RFC3377] J. Hodges, R. Morgan, "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
(v3): Technical Specification", RFC 3377, September 2002.
7. Informative References
[RFC3383] K. Zeilenga, "IANA Considerations for LDAP", BCP 64 (also
RFC 3383), September 2002.
[ASSIGN] OpenLDAP Foundation, "OpenLDAP OID Delegations",
http://www.openldap.org/foundation/oid-delegate.txt.
[PRIVATE] IANA, "Private Enterprise Numbers",
http://www.iana.org/assignments/enterprise-numbers.
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