draft-legg-ldap-admin-xx.txt [plain text]
INTERNET-DRAFT S. Legg
draft-legg-ldap-admin-00.txt Adacel Technologies
Intended Category: Standards Track September 18, 2002
Directory Administrative Model in LDAP
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved.
Status of this Memo
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1. Abstract
This document adapts the X.500 directory administrative model for use
by the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. The administrative
model partitions the Directory Information Tree for various aspects
of directory data administration, e.g. subschema, access control and
collective attributes. The generic framework that applies to every
aspect of administration is described in this document. The
definitions that apply for a specific aspect of administration, e.g.
access control administration, are described in other documents.
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The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].
2. Table of Contents
1. Abstract .................................................... 1
2. Table of Contents ........................................... 2
3. Introduction ................................................ 2
4. Administrative Areas ........................................ 2
5. Autonomous Administrative Areas ............................. 3
6. Specific Administrative Areas ............................... 3
7. Inner Administrative Areas .................................. 4
8. Administrative Entries ...................................... 5
9. Security Considerations ..................................... 5
10. Acknowledgements ........................................... 5
11. Normative References ....................................... 5
12. Informative References ..................................... 6
13. Copyright Notice ........................................... 6
14. Author's Address ........................................... 6
3. Introduction
This document adapts the X.500 directory administrative model [X501]
for use by the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
[RFC2251]. The administrative model partitions the Directory
Information Tree (DIT) for various aspects of directory data
administration, e.g. subschema, access control and collective
attributes. This document provides the definitions for the generic
parts of the administrative model that apply to every aspect of
directory data administration.
Sections 4 to 8, in conjunction with [SUBENTRY], describe the means
by which administrative authority is aportioned and exercised in the
DIT.
Aspects of administration that conform to the administrative model
described in this document are detailed elsewhere, e.g. access
control administration is described in [ACA] and collective attribute
administration is described in [COLLECT].
This document is derived from, and duplicates substantial portions
of, Sections 4 and 8 of [X501].
4. Administrative Areas
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An administrative area is a subtree of the DIT considered from the
perspective of administration. The root entry of the subtree is an
administrative point. An administrative point is represented by an
entry holding an administrativeRole attribute [SUBENTRY]. The values
of this attribute identify the kind of administrative point.
5. Autonomous Administrative Areas
The DIT may be partitioned into one or more non-overlapping subtrees
termed autonomous administrative areas. It is expected that the
entries in an autonomous administrative area are all administered by
the same administrative authority.
An administrative authority may be responsible for several autonomous
administrative areas in separated parts of the DIT but it SHOULD NOT
arbitrarily partition the collection of entries under its control
into autonomous administrative areas (thus creating adjacent
autonomous areas administered by the same authority).
The root entry of an autonomous administrative area's subtree is
called an autonomous administrative point. An autonomous
administrative area extends from its autonomous administrative point
downwards until another autonomous administrative point is
encountered, at which point another autonomous administrative area
begins.
6. Specific Administrative Areas
Entries in an administrative area may be considered in terms of a
specific administrative function. When viewed in this context, an
administrative area is termed a specific administrative area.
Examples of specific administrative areas are subschema specific
administrative areas, access control specific areas and collective
attribute specific areas.
An autonomous administrative area may be considered as implicitly
defining a single specific administrative area for each specific
aspect of administration. In this case, there is a precise
correspondence between each such specific administrative area and the
autonomous administrative area.
Alternatively, for each specific aspect of administration, the
autonomous administrative area may be partitioned into
non-overlapping specific administrative areas.
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If so partitioned for a particular aspect of administration, each
entry of the autonomous administrative area is contained in one and
only one specific administrative area for that aspect, i.e. specific
administrative areas do not overlap.
The root entry of a specific administrative area's subtree is called
a specific administrative point. A specific administrative area
extends from its specific administrative point downwards until
another specific administrative point of the same administrative
aspect is encountered, at which point another specific administrative
area begins. Specific administrative areas are always bounded by the
autonomous administrative area they partition.
Where an autonomous administrative area is not partitioned for a
specific aspect of administration, the specific administrative area
for that aspect coincides with the autonomous administrative area.
In this case, the autonomous administrative point is also the
specific administrative point for this aspect of administration. A
particular administrative point may be the root of an autonomous
administrative area and may be the root of one or more specific
administrative areas for different aspects of administration.
It is not necessary for an administrative point to represent each
specific aspect of administrative authority. For example, there
might be an administrative point, subordinate to the root of the
autonomous administrative area, which is used for access control
purposes only.
7. Inner Administrative Areas
For some aspects of administration, e.g. access control or collective
attributes, inner administrative areas may be defined within the
specific administrative areas, to allow a limited form of delegation,
or for administrative or operational convenience.
An inner administrative area may be nested within another inner
administrative area. The rules for nested inner areas are defined as
part of the definition of the specific administrative aspect for
which they are allowed.
The root entry of an inner administrative area's subtree is called an
inner administrative point. An inner administrative area (within a
specific administrative area) extends from its inner administrative
point downwards until a specific administrative point of the same
administrative aspect is encountered. An inner administrative area
is bounded by the specific administrative area within which it is
defined.
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8. Administrative Entries
An entry located at an administrative point is an administrative
entry. Administrative entries MAY have subentries [SUBENTRY] as
immediate subordinates. The administrative entry and its associated
subentries are used to control the entries encompassed by the
associated administrative area. Where inner administrative areas are
used, the scopes of these areas may overlap. Therefore, for each
specific aspect of administrative authority, a definition is required
of the method of combination of administrative information when it is
possible for entries to be included in more than one subtree or
subtree refinement associated with an inner area defined for that
aspect.
9. Security Considerations
This document defines a generic framework for employing policy of
various kinds, e.g. access controls, to entries in the DIT. Such
policy can only be correctly enforced at a directory server holding a
replica of a portion of the DIT if the administrative entries for
administrative areas that overlap the portion of the DIT being
replicated, and the subentries of those administrative entries
relevant to any aspect of policy that is required to be enforced at
the replica, are included in the replicated information.
Administrative entries and subentries SHOULD be protected from
unauthorized examination or changes by appropriate access controls.
10. Acknowledgements
This document is derived from, and duplicates substantial portions
of, Sections 4 and 8 of [X501].
11. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC2251] Wahl, M., Howes, T. and S. Kille, "Lightweight Directory
Access Protocol (v3)", RFC 2251, December 1997.
[SUBENTRY] Zeilenga, K. and S. Legg, "Subentries in LDAP",
draft-zeilenga-ldap-subentry-xx.txt, a work in progress,
August 2002.
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12. Informative References
[ACA] Legg, S., "Access Control Administration in LDAP",
draft-legg-ldap-acm-admin-xx.txt, a work in progress,
September 2002.
[COLLECT] Zeilenga, K., "Collective Attributes in LDAP",
draft-zeilenga-ldap-collective-xx.txt, a work in progress,
August 2002.
[X501] ITU-T Recommendation X.501 (02/2001), Information
technology - Open Systems Interconnection - The Directory:
Models
13. Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved.
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 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.
14. Author's Address
Steven Legg
Adacel Technologies Ltd.
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405-409 Ferntree Gully Road
Mount Waverley, Victoria 3149
AUSTRALIA
Phone: +61 3 9451 2107
Fax: +61 3 9541 2121
EMail: steven.legg@adacel.com.au
15. Appendix A - Changes From Previous Drafts
This document reproduces Section 4 from
draft-legg-ldap-acm-admin-00.txt as a standalone document. All
changes made are purely editorial. No technical changes have been
introduced.
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