Advanced LDAP Training

Duration: 1 day. May be combined with the Basic LDAP Course to create a three day course.

La formation est aussi disponible en français.

Other courses: DNS Training, Telecommunications Training, LDAP Training.

The course uses OpenLDAP which is available on Linux, UNIX and Windows platforms to illustrate LDAP principles and operation and which is relatively invisible during the basic course. The course makes extensive use of a platform independent LDAP browser to discovery and interrogate LDAP implementations including Windows Active Directory. The course is offered with Linux (Fedora Core), FreeBSD or Windows as the platform for all excercises.

Introduction

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is the emerging standard for managing resources and objects used within and in some cases between organizations. The hierarchical, yet flexible architecture, of LDAP makes it suitable for a wide range of tasks from simple customer address lists through operational provision of Single Sign-On (SSO and Identity Management) to a repository for network wide policy management. With resilience, platform independence and distributed functionality built-in, coupled with LDAP abstraction layers available from most transaction oriented database suppliers, LDAP is the ideal standards based approach to unifying data usage on an enterprise wide basis. Microsoft's Active Directory is but one of a number of enterprise wide solutions using LDAP to glue together disparate data.

Description

Students will review the theory and organization of the LDAP hierarchy or Object Tree Structure covering the Data Information Tree (DIT), objectClasses and attributes, schemas and LDIF files. A shell application will be used (and extension of that used in the Basic LDAP course) to provide a hands-on experience. Students will learn the detail syntax of objectClasses and Attributes and design, and add, a new objectClass, multiple Attributes and package them into a new schema. An overview of the LDAP API to allow understanding of alternative implementations and uses of LDAP. A platform independent LDAP browser is used throughout the course to examine both the students application and the Windows Active Directory LDAP implementation. Students need to be thoroughly familiar with basic LDAP technology and ideally should have taken the BASIC LDAP course.

Audience:

The course is optimized for LDAP designers, architects and implementors, Network and System administrators and those who need a thorough understanding of LDAP technology.

About the Instructor

Ron Aitchison is the author of Pro DNS and BIND (Apress ISBN 1-59059-494-0) and the on-line LDAP for Rocket Scientists which is read and consulted over 100,000 times per month from around the world. Ron has been involved in communications and networking for more years than he cares to admit and is president and founder of Zytrax, Inc. a company specializing in IP communications (wired and wireless), systems development, training and consulting in Montreal, Canada. He has been involved with Open Source software and systems for over 10 years and Windows since the gory days of Windows 3.1.

Contents

Module 1: LDAP Introduction and Theory

• Introduction and Background

  • What is a directory
  • X.500 and X.519 DAP
  • LDAP Scope
  • LDAP and Transactional Databases
  • LDAP is good for.....
  • LDAP - myths, legends and nonsense

• LDAP Object Tree Structure

  • LDAP models defined (Information, Naming, Functional, Security)
  • LDAP Data Information Tree (DIT)
  • LDAP DIT root
  • LDAP Entries
  • LDAP objectClasses
  • LDAP hierarchy (Parent, Child, Siblings)
  • LDAP attributes

• LDAP and ASN.1

  • Global uniqueness
  • ASN.1 Notation
  • ASN.1 examples
  • ASN1. in LDAP

• LDAP Features

  • LDAP Referrals
  • LDAP Replication
  • LDAP Archive/Restore

• Exercise: LDAP Browser

Module 2: LDAP Information (Data) Model

• Attribute Characteristics

  • Deconstructing Attributes
  • Data content and format
  • Optional or Manadatory
  • Single or multiple instances
  • Names and aliases
  • Matching Rules
  • Designing and Adding Attributes

• ObjectClass Characteristics

  • Deconstructing objectClasses
  • Collection of Attributes
  • Defines attribute properties
  • Structural, Auxiliary and Abstract
  • LDAP Schemas - packages of objectClasses and Attributes
  • Standard objectClasses
  • Designing and Adding objectClasses

• LDAP Operational Attributes and Objects

  • LDAP subschema
  • LDAP collections
  • LDAP extensions
  • LDAP features
  • LDAP matchingrules
  • LDAP namingContexts

• Exercise: Browse LDAP subschemas (various)

• Exercise: Add Attributes, ObjectClass and Schema to application

Module 3: LDAP Functional Model

• DIT Design and Organization

  • Top Level Organization of DIT
  • Global Uniqueness or Not
  • Multiple DITs
  • Future Flexibility
  • Flat architecture
  • Structural examples
  • Adding child entries
  • Extending existing entries
  • Use and function of groups

• Seaching and Writing

  • Read (Search) and Write (Modify) Characteristics
  • Distinguished Names (DN)
  • Relative Distinguished Names (RDN)
  • extended Seaching - wildcards, SUBSTR searches
  • LDAP URL Notation and structure
  • LDAP URL Limits and Functionality

• Indexing

  • Power of Indexing
  • Controling Indexing
  • Cost of Indexing
  • Optimize Indexing - frequently
  • Indexing - matchingrules
  • Indexing - Substrings

• Exercise: Add substring and explore LDAP

Module 4: LDAP Security Model

• LDAP Security Model

  • LDAP Operations vs Data
  • LDAP Security Overview (ACP)
  • LDAP Security features
  • Complex Security
  • Designing security policies
  • Implemeting security policies
  • LDAP Security - Student Application

• Exercise: Add Security Policy

• LDAP in Access Security

  • Authentication and Authorization
  • Network Authentication (KERBEROS)
  • Single User - Single Password
  • Single Sign-On (SSO)
  • Platform Authentication - UNIX/Windows
  • LINUX/UNIX - posixAccount
  • Windows Active Directory

• Exercise: Add Authentication to Application

• Exercise: Add and test security policy

• LDAP API

  • API Functionality
  • API Model
  • API Calls
  • API - use and application

Other courses: DNS Training, Telecom Training, LDAP Training.