[KLUG Members] book suggestions for openldap

[Adam Tauno Williams]

> I guess let me clarify by what I meant by "cookbook" approach. I have 
> read several papers that discuss the theory and ideas behind using the 
> directory approach. What I am really having trouble with at the moment 
> and what I am looking to find is specifics...examples. For instance I 
> know what a schema is, I have gone through and looked at the schema 
> files in /etc/ldap/schema and attribute definitions. What I am trying to 
> understand now is how to best use these.

Ah,  the schemas are BADLY documented.  Maybe the schema section of our
(Morrison Industries) enterprise directory manual will help.
ftp://kalamazoolinux.org/pub/pdf/EDManual.pdf

> For example, as a DB person I am curious if when you add a record if 
> there is not a value for a certain attribute defined in the schema, does 
>   the db simply enter a NULL value or is that attribute just not stored?

No, LDAP has no nulls.  That attribute simply DOES NOT EXIST in that object.

> How exactly does an insert look if I need to use more than one schema 
> for a record. For instance, if I needed to use both the interorgperson 
> and some other schema to get all of the attributes I want a record to hold?

You specify multiple objectclass attributes.

dn: ...
objectclass: ...
objectclass: ...
objectclass: ...
attr1: ...
attr1: ...
attr2: ...
attr3: ...
..

> For things like email and samba authentication, what suggested 
> attributes should I make sure I include.

See the mail & accounts section of our ED manual.

> I guess everything I seem to find to read is more theory and ldap term 
> definitions than samples on how common directories are actually done. I 
> guess I am just having a hard time getting from the theory to the 
> implementation side at the moment.
> Thanks for the tips on the books mentioned and I will just keep plugging 
>   at this as I get time.