INTERNET-DRAFT Kurt D. Zeilenga Intended Category: Informational OpenLDAP Foundation Expires: 17 May 2001 17 November 2000 Reorganization of the LDAP Technical Specification draft-zeilenga-ldapbis-reorg-00 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 a Informational document. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Technical discussion of this document will take place on the IETF LDAP Revision (Proposed) Working Group (LDAPbis) mailing list . Please send editorial comments directly to the author . 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. Copyright 2000, The Internet Society. All Rights Reserved. Please see the Copyright section near the end of this document for more information. 1. Abstract This document suggests one approach for reorganization of the LDAP Technical Specification. Zeilenga [Page 1] INTERNET-DRAFT draft-zeilenga-ldapbis-reorg-00 17 November 2000 2. Current Organization The LDAP "core" technical specification is currently described in the following documents: - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): Technical Specification [LDAPTS], - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3) [RFC2251], - LDAPv3: Attribute Syntax Definitions [RFC 2252], - LDAPv3: UTF-8 String Representation of Distinguished Names [RFC2253], - The String Representation of LDAP Search Filters [RFC2254], - The LDAP URL Format [RFC2255], - A Summary of the X.500(96) User Schema for use with LDAPv3 [RFC2256], - Authentication Methods for LDAP [RFC2829], - LDAPv3: Extension for Transport Layer Security [RFC2830], and - Using Digest Authentication as a SASL Mechanism [RFC2831]. This section brief details which portions of the technical specification each document contains. 2.1. Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): Technical Specification The primary purpose of this document is to detail which technical specifications (which are detailed in other documents) define LDAP. 2.2. Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3) The primary purpose of this document is to define the on-the-wire protocol. The document also describes the LDAP protocol and data models and the relationship to X.500. 2.3. LDAPv3: Attribute Syntax Definitions The primary purpose of this document is to define attribute syntaxes and matching rules used in LDAP. This document also details a number of operational attribute. 2.4. LDAPv3: UTF-8 String Representation of Distinguished Names The purpose of this document is to define the string representation of Distinguished Names as used in LDAPv3. Zeilenga [Page 2] INTERNET-DRAFT draft-zeilenga-ldapbis-reorg-00 17 November 2000 2.5. String Representation of LDAP Search Filters The purpose of this document is to define the string representation of search filters. 2.6. The LDAP URL Format The purpose of this document is to define the LDAP Uniform Resource Locator scheme. 2.7. A Summary of the X.500(96) User Schema for use with LDAPv3 The primary purpose of this document is to define user schema, including object classes and user attributes. 2.8. Authentication Methods for LDAP The primary purpose of this document is to detail authentication methods for LDAP including specification of the mandatory-to-implement strong authentication method. 2.9. LDAPv3: Extension for Transport Layer Security The primary purpose of this document is to detail the Start TLS extended operation. 2.10. Using Digest Authentication as a SASL Mechanism The primary purpose of this document is to detail the DIGEST-MD5 SASL mechanism. Though this mechanism is not specific to LDAP, it is currently viewed as part of the LDAP "core" specification. 2.11. Normative References Like many technical specifications, LDAP relies heavily on technical specifications defined in other documents. As some of these documents are not likely to be progressed independently to Draft Standard or are documents in which the LDAP TS shall obsolete, some reorganization of materials contained in these documents may be necessary. This document does not (yet) discuss the particulars of reorganization due to these normative references. Zeilenga [Page 3] INTERNET-DRAFT draft-zeilenga-ldapbis-reorg-00 17 November 2000 3. A Proposed Organization This section proposed that LDAP technical specification be reorganized as follows: 3.1 LDAP Overview / Data Model This document would provide an overview of LDAP, detail the LDAP Data Model, the relationship to X.500, as well as define which other technical specifications comprise LDAP. This document would be based upon the [LDAPTS] and select sections (e.g. 3.2-3.4) of [RFC2251] 3.2 LDAP Protocol Specification This document would detail the LDAP protocol. This document would be based upon [RFC2251] and select sections of [RFC2829]. 3.3 LDAP SASL Profile This document would detail the LDAP SASL profile. This document would be based [RFC2829] and select sections of [RFC2251]. 3.4 LDAP Extension for TLS This document would detail Start TLS extended operation. This document would be based upon [RFC2830]. 3.5 LDAP Syntaxes and Matching Rules This document would detail LDAP syntaxes and matching rules. This document would be based upon [RFC2252]. 3.6 LDAP System Schema This document would detail system schema including specification of operational attributes and select user attributes (e.g. objectclass). This document would be based upon select sections of [RFC2252] and [RFC2256]. 3.7 LDAP User Schema Zeilenga [Page 4] INTERNET-DRAFT draft-zeilenga-ldapbis-reorg-00 17 November 2000 This document would detail user schema. This document would be based upon [RFC2256]. 3.8 LDAP Distinguished DN This document would detail the DN string representation. This document would be based upon [RFC2253]. 3.9 LDAP Search Filter This document would detail the search filter string representation. This document would be based upon [RFC2254]. 3.10 LDAP URL This document would detail the LDAP Uniform Resource Locator scheme. This document would be based upon [RFC2255]. 3.11. Using Digest Authentication as a SASL Mechanism This document would detail the DIGEST-MD5 SASL mechanism. This document would be based upon [RFC2831]. 4. Security Considerations This document proposes a reorganization which is intended to improve the readibility of the specification including security consideration detailed within these specifications. It is hoped that this reorganization will improve the readability of these security considerations. 5. Acknowledgements This document is a based the input of members of the IETF LDAP Revision (proposed) and LDAP Extensions working groups. The contributions of individuals in these groups is gratefully acknowledged. 6. Bibliography [LDAPTS] J. Hodges, R. Morgan, "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol Zeilenga [Page 5] INTERNET-DRAFT draft-zeilenga-ldapbis-reorg-00 17 November 2000 (v3): Technical Specification", a work in progress, October 2000. [RFC2251] M. Wahl, T. Howes, S. Kille, "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3)", RFC 2251, December 1997. [RFC2252] M. Wahl, A. Coulbeck, T. Howes, S. Kille, "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): Attribute Syntax Definitions", RFC 2252, December 1997. [RFC2253] S. Kille, M. Wahl, T. Howes, "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): UTF-8 String Representation of Distinguished Names", RFC 2253, December 1997. [RFC2254] T. Howes, "A String Representation of LDAP Search Filters", RFC 2254, December 1997. [RFC2255] T. Howes, M. Smith, "The LDAP URL Format", RFC 2255, December 1997. [RFC2256] M. Wahl, "A Summary of the X.500(96) User Schema for use with LDAPv3", RFC 2256, December 1997. [RFC2829] M. Wahl, H. Alvestrand, J. Hodges, RL "Bob" Morgan, "Authentication Methods for LDAP", RFC 2829, June 2000. [RFC2830] J. Hodges, R. Morgan, M. Wahl, "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): Extension for Transport Layer Security", RFC 2830, May 2000. [RFC2831] P. Leach, C. Newman, "Using Digest Authentication as a SASL Mechanism", RFC 2831, June 2000. [RFC2247] S. Kille, M. Wahl, A. Grimstad, R. Huber, S. Sataluri, "Using Domains in LDAP/X.500 Distinguished Names", RFC 2247, January 1998. 7. Authors' Addresses Kurt Zeilenga OpenLDAP Foundation Copyright 2000, The Internet Society. All Rights Reserved. Zeilenga [Page 6] INTERNET-DRAFT draft-zeilenga-ldapbis-reorg-00 17 November 2000 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 AUTHORS, 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. Zeilenga [Page 7]