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3.1 Obtaining the OpenLDAP Distribution

The OpenLDAP project does not make binary distributions of its software available. The reason for this has a lot to do with the number of dependencies it has on other packages. Many Linux vendors include precompiled versions of OpenLDAP with their distributions. Still, we'll discuss how to compile the OpenLDAP source code distribution; you'll need to build OpenLDAP to stay up to date, and studying the build process gives you a chance to learn more about the LDAP protocol.

Symas Corporation also provides some precompiled OpenLDAP packages (including requisite software components) for Solaris and HP-UX at http://www.symas.com/.

The latest version of OpenLDAP can be obtained from http://www.OpenLDAP.org/software/download/. There are two major incarnations of OpenLDAP. The older 1.2 releases are essentially enhancements or small bug fixes to the original University of Michigan code base and implement only LDAPv2. The OpenLDAP 2 branch is an LDAPv3-compliant implementation.

There are several advantages of LDAPv3 over the previous version, such as:

  • The ability to refer clients to other LDAP servers for information. The LDAPv2 RFCs contained no provision for returning a referral to a client. While the University of Michigan server supported an experimental implementation of referrals, the concept was not standardized until the LDAPv3 specifications. Standardization made interoperability between servers and clients from different vendors possible, something that was missing under LDAPv2.

  • The ability to publish the server's schema via LDAP operations, which makes it easier for clients to learn the server's schema before performing searches. The only way to determine the schema supported by an LDAPv2 server was to examine the server's configuration files. Publishing the server's schema as entries within the directory allows for such things as real-time updates via standard LDAP operations. (Note that LDAPv3 does not require dynamic updates.)

  • Internationalization support through the use of UTF-8 characters in strings (RFC 2253) and language tags for attribute descriptions (RFC 2596).

  • Improved security and flexibility for authentication credentials and data via SASL and SSL/TLS. LDAPv2 supported only simple binds or Kerberos 4 authentication.

  • Support for protocol extensions as a mechanism to enhance existing operations or add new commands without requiring that a new revision of the LDAP protocol be defined.

The OpenLDAP 2 release is an LDAPv3 server. However, LDAPv2 clients are not going away anytime soon. Therefore, OpenLDAP 2 and the majority of other LDAP servers can support both LDAPv2 and v3 clients.[2]

[2] Most people are referring to the University of Michigan LDAP client and server implementation when using the term LDAPv2. LDAPv2 as specified in the original RFCs has been moved to historic status.

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