RFC3377

Network Working Group J. Hodges Request for Comments: 3377 Sun Microsystems Inc. Category: Standards Track R. Morgan

                                            University of Washington
                                                      September 2002

          Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3):
                    Technical Specification

Status of this Memo

This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

This document specifies the set of RFCs comprising the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol Version 3 (LDAPv3), and addresses the "IESG Note" attached to RFCs 2251 through 2256.

Background and Motivation

The specification for the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol version 3 (LDAPv3) nominally comprises eight RFCs which were issued in two distinct subsets at separate times -- RFCs 2251 through 2256 first, then RFCs 2829 and 2830 following later.

RFC 2251 through 2256 do not mandate the implementation of any satisfactory authentication mechanisms and hence were published with an "IESG Note" discouraging implementation and deployment of LDAPv3 clients or servers implementing update functionality until a Proposed Standard for mandatory authentication in LDAPv3 is published.

RFC 2829 was subsequently published in answer to the IESG Note.

The purpose of this document is to explicitly specify the set of RFCs comprising LDAPv3, and formally address the IESG Note through explicit inclusion of RFC 2829.

Specification of LDAPv3

The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol version 3 (LDAPv3) is specified by this set of nine RFCs:

  RFC2251  Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3) [the
             specification of the LDAP on-the-wire protocol]

  RFC2252  Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3):  Attribute
             Syntax Definitions

  RFC2253  Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3):  UTF-8
             String Representation of Distinguished Names

  RFC2254  The String Representation of LDAP Search Filters

  RFC2255  The LDAP URL Format

  RFC2256  A Summary of the X.500(96) User Schema for use with
             LDAPv3

  RFC2829  Authentication Methods for LDAP

  RFC2830  Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3):  Extension
             for Transport Layer Security

  And, this document (RFC3377).

The term "LDAPv3" is often used informally to refer to the protocol specified by the above set of RFCs, or subsets thereof. However, the LDAPv3 protocol suite, as defined here, should be formally identified in other documents by a normative reference to this document.

Addressing the "IESG Note" in RFCs 2251 through 2256

The IESG approved publishing RFCs 2251 through 2256 with an attendant IESG Note included in each document. The Note begins with:

  This document describes a directory access protocol that provides
  both read and update access.  Update access requires secure
  authentication, but this document does not mandate implementation
  of any satisfactory authentication mechanisms.

The Note ends with this statement:

  Implementors are hereby discouraged from deploying LDAPv3 clients
  or servers which implement the update functionality, until a
  Proposed Standard for mandatory authentication in LDAPv3 has been
  approved and published as an RFC.

RFC2829 is expressly the "Proposed Standard for mandatory authentication in LDAPv3" called for in the Note. Thus, the IESG Note in RFC2251, RFC2252, RFC2253, RFC2254, RFC2255, and RFC2256 is addressed.

Security Considerations

This document does not directly discuss security, although the context of the aforementioned IESG Note is security related, as is the manner in which it is addressed.

Please refer to the referenced documents, especially RFC2829, RFC2251, and RFC2830, for further information concerning LDAPv3 security.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Patrik Faltstrom, Leslie Daigle, Thomas Narten, and Kurt Zeilenga for their contributions to this document.

References

RFC2251 Wahl, M., Kille, S. and T. Howes, "Lightweight Directory

          Access Protocol (v3)", RFC 2251, December 1997.

RFC2252 Wahl, M., Coulbeck, A., Howes, T. and S. Kille,

          "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): Attribute
          Syntax Definitions", RFC 2252, December 1997.

RFC2253 Kille, S., Wahl, M. and T. Howes, "Lightweight Directory

          Access Protocol (v3): UTF-8 String Representation of
          Distinguished Names", RFC 2253, December 1997.

RFC2254 Howes, T., "The String Representation of LDAP Search

          Filters", RFC 2254, December 1997.

RFC2255 Howes, T. and M. Smith, "The LDAP URL Format", RFC 2255,

          December 1997.

RFC2256 Wahl, M., "A Summary of the X.500(96) User Schema for use

          with LDAPv3", RFC 2256, December 1997.

RFC2829 Wahl, M., Alvestrand, H., Hodges, J. and R. Morgan,

          "Authentication Methods for LDAP", RFC 2829, May 2000.

RFC2830 Hodges, J., Morgan, R. and M. Wahl, "Lightweight Directory

          Access Protocol (v3): Extension for Transport Layer
          Security", RFC 2830, May 2000.

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Authors' Addresses

Jeff Hodges Sun Microsystems, Inc. 901 San Antonio Road, USCA22-212 Palo Alto, CA 94303 USA

Phone: +1-408-276-5467 EMail: [email protected]

RL "Bob" Morgan Computing and Communications University of Washington Seattle, WA USA

Phone: +1-206-221-3307 EMail: [email protected]

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Acknowledgement

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