Internet DRAFT - draft-furuseth-ldap-untypedobject
draft-furuseth-ldap-untypedobject
INTERNET-DRAFT Hallvard B. Furuseth
Intended Category: Informational University of Oslo
Expires: December 2006 L. Howard
PADL Software
Alexey Melnikov
Isode Limited
June 2006
Structural object class 'namedObject' for LDAP/X.500
<draft-furuseth-ldap-untypedobject-02.txt>
Status of this Memo
This document is intended to be published as an Informational RFC.
Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Technical discussions of
this document are held on the LDAP Extension mailinglist
<ldapext@ietf.org>. Please send editorial comments directly to the
author <h.b.furuseth@usit.uio.no>.
By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any
applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware
have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes
aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79.
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/1id-abstracts.html
The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html
Abstract
This document defines an 'namedObject' structural object class for
the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and X.500. This is
useful for entries with no natural choice of structural object class,
Furuseth draft-furuseth-ldap-untypedobject-02.txtFORMFEED[Page 1]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP object class 'untypedObject' June 2006
e.g. if an entry must exist even though its contents are
uninteresting.
Furuseth draft-furuseth-ldap-untypedobject-02.txtFORMFEED[Page 2]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP object class 'untypedObject' June 2006
1. Introduction
An entry in a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) [LDAPV3]
or [X.500] directory must have a structural object class, such as
'person' or 'country'. However, an entry may lack a natural choice
of structural object class. For example, the desired structure of a
directory tree might require an entry to exist for grouping purposes
even though it describes no real-world object. This document defines
an 'namedObject' structural object class for this use.
As 'namedObject' structural object class doesn't have any mandatory
attributes, it can also be used in combination with arbitrary
auxiliary object classes. For example, the posixGroup object class
[LDAP-NIS] is an auxiliary object class that may be used to overlay
POSIX group identification on an existing group of distinguished
names. In this case, it is suggested that the groupOfUniqueNames
object class be used as a structural object class. However, this may
sometimes be inappropriate: that groupOfUniqueNames requires at least
one member may make it impossible to migrate existing group
information. [LDAP-NIS] could define a specific structural object
class for this case (say, structuralPosixGroup), but this would
unnecessarily add to the proliferation of redundant schema.
2. Object class definition
namedObject is defined as follows. The definition uses the BNF form
of ObjectClassDescription from [MODEL], but with lines folded for
readability.
( IANA-ASSIGNED-OID NAME 'namedObject'
DESC 'Entry of no particular type [RFC XXXX]'
SUP top STRUCTURAL
MAY ( cn $ o $ ou $ l $ c $ st $ street $
description $ owner $ seeAlso ) )
<<Reuse Luke's OID: 1.3.6.1.4.1.5322.13.1.1?>>
The attribute types are defined in [SCHEMA].
The name of an entry with this object class will normally be a cn,
but attributes o through street are allowed as well in case the entry
name relates to the name of something else. Of these, only the one
used for naming is intended to be used in the entry. Use of the
others may be an indication that the entry should have a more
descriptive object class instead of or in addition to this one.
Furuseth draft-furuseth-ldap-untypedobject-02.txtFORMFEED[Page 3]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP object class 'untypedObject' June 2006
3. Example
In a directory with entries named as follows, the entries with RDNs
cn=people etc. can use namedObject:
uid=john,cn=people,dc=example,dc=com
uid=john,cn=users,cn=system,dc=example,dc=com
cn=www,cn=filegroups,cn=system,dc=example,dc=com
4. Security Considerations
Attributes of directory entries are used to provide descriptive
information about the real-world objects they represent, which can be
people, organizations or devices. Most countries have privacy laws
regarding the publication of information about people.
<<TBD>>
5. IANA Considerations
It is requested that the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
register the following upon Expert Review:
Subject: Request for LDAP OID Registration
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Hallvard B Furuseth <h.b.furuseth@usit.uio.no>
Specification: RFC XXXX
Author/Change Controller: IESG
Comments:
OID of structural object class 'namedObject'.
Subject: Request for LDAP Descriptor Registration
Descriptor (short name): namedObject
Object Identifier: IANA-ASSIGNED-OID
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Luke Howard <lukeh@padl.com>
Usage: Object class
Specification: RFC XXXX
Author/Change Controller: IESG
Comments:
Structural object class for entries of no particular type.
[Editor: Here and in Section 2, replace IANA-ASSIGNED-OID with the
assigned OID and XXXX with the RFC number assigned this document.]
Furuseth draft-furuseth-ldap-untypedobject-02.txtFORMFEED[Page 4]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP object class 'untypedObject' June 2006
6. References
6.1. Normative References
[MODEL] Zeilenga, K., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
(LDAP): Directory Information Models", RFC 4512,
June 2006.
[SCHEMA] Sciberras, A., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
(LDAP): Schema for User Applications", RFC 4519,
June 2006.
6.2. Informative References
[LDAP-NIS] Howard, L., "An Approach for Using LDAP as a Network
Information Service", RFC 2307, March 1998.
[Note to the RFC editor: 2307bis gets approved as RFC
before this document, relace the reference above:
L. Howard, M. Ansari, "An Approach for Using LDAP as
a Network Information Service".
]
[LDAPV3] Zeilenga, K., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
(LDAP): Technical Specification Road Map", RFC 4510,
June 2006.
[STRING-DN] Zeilenga, K., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
(LDAP): String Representation of Distinguished Names",
RFC 4514, June 2006.
[X.500] The Directory, ITU-T Recommendations X.500-X.525, 1993.
7. Author's Address
Hallvard B. Furuseth
USIT, University of Oslo
Pb. 1059 - Blindern
0316 Oslo
Norway
E-mail: h.b.furuseth@usit.uio.no
Phone: +47-22 85 28 13
Luke Howard
PADL Software Pty. Ltd.
Furuseth draft-furuseth-ldap-untypedobject-02.txtFORMFEED[Page 5]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP object class 'untypedObject' June 2006
PO Box 59
Central Park Vic 3145
Australia
EMail: lukeh@padl.com
Alexey Melnikov
Isode Limited
5 Castle Business Village
36 Station Road
Hampton, Middlesex
TW12 2BX, United Kingdom
Email: Alexey.Melnikov@isode.com
URI: http://www.melnikov.ca/
8. Acknowledgments
Authors would like to thank Kurt Zeilenga for comments and
corrections.
Furuseth draft-furuseth-ldap-untypedobject-02.txtFORMFEED[Page 6]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP object class 'untypedObject' June 2006
Appendix A: Notes on choices made for the object class
(This section will be deleted in the final RFC.)
The c through uid attributes (for naming of entries) match the table
of naming attributes in [STRING-DN] (UTF-8 String Representation of
Distinguished Names), in case the entry's RDN needs to match the RDN
of something else.
The description, owner and seeAlso attributes seem good to offer for
"nothing in particular"-kind of entries, since such entries might not
contain anything else which indicates what they are for and who is
responsible for them.
Appendix B: Issues for consideration
(This section will be deleted in the final RFC.)
Is the name of this object class properly reflects its purpose?
Is the choice of naming attributes good?
Furuseth draft-furuseth-ldap-untypedobject-02.txtFORMFEED[Page 7]
INTERNET-DRAFT LDAP object class 'untypedObject' June 2006
Disclaimer of validity
The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
Intellectual Property Rights 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; nor does it represent that it has
made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information
on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat 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 on-line IPR repository at
http://www.ietf.org/ipr.
The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-
ipr@ietf.org.
Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006). This document is subject
to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and
except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.
This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM 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.
Acknowledgment
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
Internet Society.
Furuseth draft-furuseth-ldap-untypedobject-02.txtFORMFEED[Page 8]
