INTERNET-DRAFT Kurt D. Zeilenga
Intended Category: Standard Track OpenLDAP Foundation
Expires in six months 25 October 2003
The LDAP No-Op Control
<draft-zeilenga-ldap-noop-03.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 IESG for consideration as a Standard Track
document. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Technical
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Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.
Please see the Full 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 a directory [X.500]
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 could update their entry
(and not other entries) without the directory actually being updated.
The mechanism could be used to build more sophisticated security
auditing tools.
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 upon the
directory which operation would otherwise have. Instead of updating
the directory and return the normal indication of success, the server
does not update the directory and indicates so by returning the
noOperation resultCode (introduced below).
For example, when the No-Op control is present in a LDAP modify
operation [RFC2251], the server is do all processing necessary to
perform the operation without actually updating the directory. If it
detects an error during this processing, it returns a non-success
(other than noOperation) resultCode as it normally would. Otherwise,
it returns the noOperation. In either case, the directory is left
unchanged.
This No-Op control is not intended to be to a "effective access"
mechanism [RFC2820, U12].
1.1. Terminology
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].
DN stands for Distinguished Name.
DSA stands for Directory System Agent.
DSE stands for DSA-specific entry.
2. No-Op Control
The No-Op control is an LDAP Control [RFC2251] whose controlType is
IANA-ASSIGNED-OID, 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.
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The control is appropriate for LDAP Add, Delete, Modify and ModifyDN
operations [RFC2251].
When the control is attached to an LDAP request, the server does all
normal processing possible for the operation without modification of
the directory. That is, when the control is attached to an LDAP
request, the directory SHALL NOT be updated and the response SHALL NOT
have a resultCode of success (0).
A result code other than noOperation (IANA-ASSIGNED-CODE) means that
the server is not able or willing to complete the processing for the
reason indicated by the result code. A result code of noOperation
(TBD) indicates that the server discovered no reason why the operation
would fail if submitted without the No-Op control.
Servers SHOULD indicate their support for this control by providing
IANA-ASSIGNED-OID as a value of the 'supportedControl' attribute type
in their root DSE entry. A server MAY choose to advertise this
extension only when the client is authorized to use this operation.
3. Security Considerations
The No-Op control mechanism allows directory administrators and users
to verify that access control and other administrative policy controls
are properly configured. The mechanism may also lead to the
development (and deployment) of more effective security auditing
tools.
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 in RFCs comprising the LDAP
Technical Specification [RFC3377].
4. IANA Considerations
4.1. Object Identifier
It is requested that IANA assign an LDAP Object Identifier [RFC3383]
to identify the LDAP No-Op Control defined in this document.
Subject: Request for LDAP Object Identifier Registration
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Kurt Zeilenga <kurt@OpenLDAP.org>
Specification: RFC XXXX
Author/Change Controller: IESG
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Comments:
Identifies the LDAP No-Op Control
4.2 LDAP Protocol Mechanism
Registration of this protocol mechanism is requested [RFC3383].
Subject: Request for LDAP Protocol Mechanism Registration
Object Identifier: IANA-ASSIGNED-OID
Description: No-Op Control
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Kurt Zeilenga <kurt@openldap.org>
Usage: Control
Specification: RFC XXXX
Author/Change Controller: IESG
Comments: none
4.3 LDAP Result Code
Assignment of an LDAP Result Code called 'noOperation' is requested.
Subject: LDAP Result Code Registration
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Kurt Zeilenga <kurt@OpenLDAP.org>
Result Code Name: noOperation
Specification: RFC XXXX
Author/Change Controller: IESG
Comments: none
5. Author's Address
Kurt D. Zeilenga
OpenLDAP Foundation
<Kurt@OpenLDAP.org>
6. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14 (also RFC 2119), March 1997.
[RFC2251] Wahl, M., T. Howes and S. Kille, "Lightweight Directory
Access Protocol (v3)", RFC 2251, December 1997.
[RFC3377] Hodges, J. and R. Morgan, "Lightweight Directory Access
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Protocol (v3): Technical Specification", RFC 3377,
September 2002.
7. Informative References
[X.500] International Telecommunication Union -
Telecommunication Standardization Sector, "The Directory
-- Overview of concepts, models and services,"
X.500(1993) (also ISO/IEC 9594-1:1994).
[RFC2820] Stokes, E., et. al., "Access Control Requirements for
LDAP", RFC 2820, May 2000.
[RFC3383] Zeilenga, K., "IANA Considerations for LDAP", BCP 64
(also RFC 3383), September 2002.
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Full Copyright
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
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