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SLAPD-META(5)		      File Formats Manual		 SLAPD-META(5)

NAME
       slapd-meta - metadirectory backend to slapd

SYNOPSIS
       /usr/local/etc/openldap/slapd.conf

DESCRIPTION
       The  meta backend to slapd(8) performs basic LDAP proxying with respect
       to a set	of remote LDAP servers,	 called	 "targets".   The  information
       contained  in  these  servers can be presented as belonging to a	single
       Directory Information Tree (DIT).

       A basic knowledge of the	functionality of the slapd-ldap(5) backend  is
       recommended.   This  backend has	been designed as an enhancement	of the
       ldap backend.  The two backends share many features (actually they also
       share portions of code).	 While the ldap	backend	is intended  to	 proxy
       operations  directed to a single	server,	the meta backend is mainly in-
       tended for proxying of multiple servers	and  possibly  naming  context
       masquerading.   These  features,	although useful	in many	scenarios, may
       result in excessive overhead for	some applications, so its  use	should
       be carefully considered.	 In the	examples section, some typical scenar-
       ios will	be discussed.

       The  proxy instance of slapd(8) must contain schema information for the
       attributes and objectClasses used in filters, request DN	 and  request-
       related data in general.	 It should also	contain	schema information for
       the  data  returned by the proxied server.  It is the responsibility of
       the proxy administrator to keep the schema of the proxy lined  up  with
       that of the proxied server.

       Note:  When looping back	to the same instance of	slapd(8), each connec-
       tion requires a new thread; as a	consequence, the slapd(8) threads  pa-
       rameter	may need some tuning. In those cases, unless the multiple tar-
       get feature is required,	one may	consider using slapd-relay(5) instead,
       which performs the relayed operation internally	and  thus  reuses  the
       same connection.

EXAMPLES
       There  are  examples  in	various	places in this document, as well as in
       the slapd/back-meta/data/ directory in the OpenLDAP source tree.

CONFIGURATION
       These slapd.conf	options	apply to the META backend database.  That  is,
       they  must follow a "database meta" line	and come before	any subsequent
       "backend" or "database" lines.  Other database options are described in
       the slapd.conf(5) manual	page.

       Note: In	early versions of back-ldap and	back-meta it  was  recommended
       to always set

	      lastmod  off

       for ldap	and meta databases.  This was required because operational at-
       tributes	related	to entry creation and modification should not be prox-
       ied,  as	they could be mistakenly written to the	target server(s), gen-
       erating an error.  The current implementation automatically sets	 last-
       mod to off, so its use is redundant and should be omitted.

SPECIAL	CONFIGURATION DIRECTIVES
       Target configuration starts with	the "uri" directive.  All the configu-
       ration  directives  that	 are not specific to targets should be defined
       first for clarity, including those that are  common  to	all  backends.
       They are:

       conn-pool-max <int>
	      This  directive  defines the maximum size	of the privileged con-
	      nections pool.

       conn-ttl	<time>
	      This directive causes a  cached  connection  to  be  dropped  an
	      recreated	after a	given ttl, regardless of being idle or not.

       default-target none
	      This directive forces the	backend	to reject all those operations
	      that  must  resolve  to a	single target in case none or multiple
	      targets are selected.  They include: add,	delete,	 modify,  mod-
	      rdn;  compare  is	 not  included,	as well	as bind	since, as they
	      don't alter entries, in case of multiple matches an  attempt  is
	      made  to perform the operation on	any candidate target, with the
	      constraint that at most one must succeed.	  This	directive  can
	      also  be	used when processing targets to	mark a specific	target
	      as default.

       dncache-ttl {DISABLED|forever|<ttl>}
	      This directive sets the time-to-live  of	the  DN	 cache.	  This
	      caches  the  target that holds a given DN	to speed up target se-
	      lection in case multiple targets would result from  an  uncached
	      search;  forever means cache never expires; disabled means no DN
	      caching; otherwise a valid ( > 0 ) ttl is	required, in the  for-
	      mat illustrated for the idle-timeout directive.

       onerr {CONTINUE|report|stop}
	      This  directive allows one to select the behavior	in case	an er-
	      ror is returned by one target during  a  search.	 The  default,
	      continue,	consists in continuing the operation, trying to	return
	      as  much	data  as  possible.   If the value is set to stop, the
	      search is	terminated as soon as an error is returned by one tar-
	      get, and the error is immediately	propagated to the client.   If
	      the  value  is set to report, the	search is continued to the end
	      but, in case at least one	target returned	 an  error  code,  the
	      first non-success	error code is returned.

       norefs <NO|yes>
	      If  yes,	do not return search reference responses.  By default,
	      they are returned	unless request is LDAPv2.  If set  before  any
	      target  specification, it	affects	all targets, unless overridden
	      by any per-target	directive.

       noundeffilter <NO|yes>
	      If yes, return success instead of	searching if a filter is unde-
	      fined or contains	undefined portions.  By	default, the search is
	      propagated after replacing undefined  portions  with  (!(object-
	      Class=*)),  which	 corresponds  to the empty result set.	If set
	      before any target	specification, it affects all targets,	unless
	      overridden by any	per-target directive.

       protocol-version	{0,2,3}
	      This  directive  indicates what protocol version must be used to
	      contact the remote server.  If set to 0 (the default), the proxy
	      uses the same protocol version used by the client, otherwise the
	      requested	protocol is used.  The proxy  returns  unwillingToPer-
	      form  if	an  operation  that is incompatible with the requested
	      protocol is attempted.  If set before any	target	specification,
	      it  affects all targets, unless overridden by any	per-target di-
	      rective.

       pseudoroot-bind-defer {YES|no}
	      This directive, when set to yes, causes  the  authentication  to
	      the  remote  servers with	the pseudo-root	identity (the identity
	      defined in each idassert-bind directive) to  be  deferred	 until
	      actually	needed by subsequent operations.  Otherwise, all binds
	      as the rootdn are	propagated to the targets.

       quarantine <interval>,<num>[;<interval>,<num>[...]]
	      Turns on quarantine of URIs that returned	 LDAP_UNAVAILABLE,  so
	      that  an attempt to reconnect only occurs	at given intervals in-
	      stead of any time	a client requests an operation.	  The  pattern
	      is:  retry  only	after  at least	interval seconds elapsed since
	      last attempt, for	exactly	num times; then	use the	next  pattern.
	      If  num  for the last pattern is "+", it retries forever;	other-
	      wise, no more retries occur.  This directive must	appear	before
	      any  target  specification; it affects all targets with the same
	      pattern.

       rebind-as-user {NO|yes}
	      If this option is	given, the client's bind credentials  are  re-
	      membered	for rebinds, when trying to re-establish a broken con-
	      nection, or when chasing a referral, if chase-referrals  is  set
	      to yes.

       session-tracking-request	{NO|yes}
	      Adds session tracking control for	all requests.  The client's IP
	      and  hostname,  and  the identity	associated to each request, if
	      known, are sent to the remote server for informational purposes.
	      This directive is	incompatible with setting protocol-version  to
	      2.   If set before any target specification, it affects all tar-
	      gets, unless overridden by any per-target	directive.

       single-conn {NO|yes}
	      Discards current cached connection when the client rebinds.

       use-temporary-conn {NO|yes}
	      when set to yes, create a	temporary connection whenever  compet-
	      ing  with	 other threads for a shared one; otherwise, wait until
	      the shared connection is available.

TARGET SPECIFICATION
       Target specification starts with	a "uri"	directive:

       uri <protocol>://[<host>]/<naming context> [...]
	      The <protocol> part can be anything  ldap_initialize(3)  accepts
	      ({ldap|ldaps|ldapi}  and	variants);  the	<host> may be omitted,
	      defaulting to whatever is	set in ldap.conf(5).  The <naming con-
	      text> part is mandatory for the first URI, but it	must be	 omit-
	      ted  for	subsequent ones, if any.  The naming context part must
	      be within	the naming context defined for the backend, e.g.:

	      suffix "dc=foo,dc=com"
	      uri    "ldap://x.foo.com/dc=x,dc=foo,dc=com"

	      The <naming context> part	doesn't	need to	be unique  across  the
	      targets; it may also match one of	the values of the "suffix" di-
	      rective.	 Multiple  URIs	 may be	defined	in a single URI	state-
	      ment.  The additional URIs must be separate arguments  and  must
	      not  have	any <naming context> part.  This causes	the underlying
	      library to contact the first server of the list  that  responds.
	      For  example,  if	 l1.foo.com  and l2.foo.com are	shadows	of the
	      same server, the directive

	      suffix "dc=foo,dc=com"
	      uri    "ldap://l1.foo.com/dc=foo,dc=com" "ldap://l2.foo.com/"

	      causes l2.foo.com	to be contacted	whenever l1.foo.com  does  not
	      respond.	 In  that case,	the URI	list is	internally rearranged,
	      by moving	unavailable URIs to the	end, so	that  further  connec-
	      tion attempts occur with respect to the last URI that succeeded.

       acl-authcDN <administrative DN for access control purposes>
	      DN which is used to query	the target server for acl checking, as
	      in  the  LDAP backend; it	is supposed to have read access	on the
	      target server to attributes used on the proxy for	acl  checking.
	      There  is	no risk	of giving away such values; they are only used
	      to check permissions.  The acl-authcDN identity is by  no	 means
	      implicitly  used	by  the	 proxy when the	client connects	anony-
	      mously.

       acl-passwd <password>
	      Password used with the acl-authcDN above.

       bind-timeout <microseconds>
	      This directive defines the timeout, in microseconds,  used  when
	      polling for response after an asynchronous bind connection.  The
	      initial  call  to	 ldap_result(3)	 is performed with a trade-off
	      timeout of 100000	us; if that results  in	 a  timeout  exceeded,
	      subsequent  calls	use the	value provided with bind-timeout.  The
	      default value is used also for subsequent	calls if  bind-timeout
	      is  not  specified.   If set before any target specification, it
	      affects all targets, unless overridden by	any per-target	direc-
	      tive.

       chase-referrals {YES|no}
	      enable/disable automatic referral	chasing, which is delegated to
	      the  underlying  libldap,	with rebinding eventually performed if
	      the rebind-as-user directive is used.  The default is  to	 chase
	      referrals.   If  set before any target specification, it affects
	      all targets, unless overridden by	any per-target directive.

       client-pr {accept-unsolicited|DISABLE|<size>}
	      This feature allows one to use RFC 2696  Paged  Results  control
	      when  performing search operations with a	specific target, irre-
	      spective of the client's request.	 When set to a numeric	value,
	      Paged Results control is always used with	size as	the page size.
	      When  set	 to accept-unsolicited,	unsolicited Paged Results con-
	      trol responses are accepted and honored for  compatibility  with
	      broken  remote DSAs.  The	client is not exposed to paged results
	      handling between slapd-meta(5) and the remote servers.   By  de-
	      fault  (disabled),  Paged	 Results  control  is not used and re-
	      sponses are not accepted.	 If set	before any  target  specifica-
	      tion,  it	affects	all targets, unless overridden by any per-tar-
	      get directive.

       default-target [<target>]
	      The "default-target" directive can also be  used	during	target
	      specification.  With no arguments	it marks the current target as
	      the  default.   The optional number marks	target <target>	as the
	      default one, starting from 1.  Target <target> must be defined.

       filter <pattern>
	      This directive allows specifying a regex(5) pattern to  indicate
	      what search filter terms are actually served by a	target.

	      In  a  search  request, if the search filter matches the pattern
	      the target is considered while fulfilling	the request; otherwise
	      the target is ignored. There may be multiple occurrences of  the
	      filter directive for each	target.

       idassert-authzFrom <authz-regexp>
	      if  defined, selects what	local identities are authorized	to ex-
	      ploit the	identity assertion feature.  The string	<authz-regexp>
	      follows the rules	defined	 for  the  authzFrom  attribute.   See
	      slapd.conf(5),  section  related to authz-policy,	for details on
	      the syntax of this field.

       idassert-bind	bindmethod=none|simple|sasl    [binddn=<simple	  DN>]
	      [credentials=<simple     password>]    [saslmech=<SASL	mech>]
	      [secprops=<properties>] [realm=<realm>] [authcId=<authentication
	      ID>]  [authzId=<authorization  ID>]  [authz={native|proxyauthz}]
	      [mode=<mode>]	[flags=<flags>]	    [starttls=no|yes|critical]
	      [tls_cert=<file>]	     [tls_key=<file>]	   [tls_cacert=<file>]
	      [tls_cacertdir=<path>]	  [tls_reqcert=never|allow|try|demand]
	      [tls_reqsan=never|allow|try|demand] [tls_cipher_suite=<ciphers>]
	      [tls_ecname=<ciphers>]	  [tls_protocol_min=<major>[.<minor>]]
	      [tls_crlcheck=none|peer|all]
	      Allows one to define the parameters of the authentication	method
	      that  is	internally  used by the	proxy to authorize connections
	      that are authenticated by	other databases.  The identity defined
	      by this directive, according to the properties associated	to the
	      authentication method, is	supposed to have auth  access  on  the
	      target server to attributes used on the proxy for	authentication
	      and  authorization,  and	to  be allowed to authorize the	users.
	      This requires to have proxyAuthz privileges on  a	 wide  set  of
	      DNs,  e.g.  authzTo=dn.subtree:"", and the remote	server to have
	      authz-policy set to to or	both.  See slapd.conf(5)  for  details
	      on  these	 statements  and for remarks and drawbacks about their
	      usage.  The supported bindmethods	are

	      none|simple|sasl

	      where none  is  the  default,  i.e.  no  identity	 assertion  is
	      performed.

	      The authz	parameter is used to instruct the SASL bind to exploit
	      native  SASL  authorization, if available; since connections are
	      cached, this should only be used when authorizing	with  a	 fixed
	      identity	(e.g.  by means	of the authzDN or authzID parameters).
	      Otherwise, the default proxyauthz	is used, i.e.  the  proxyAuthz
	      control  (Proxied	 Authorization,	 RFC  4370)  is	 added	to all
	      operations.

	      The supported modes are:

	      <mode> :=	{legacy|anonymous|none|self}

	      If <mode>	is not present,	and authzId is given, the proxy	always
	      authorizes that identity.	 <authorization	ID> can	be

	      u:<user>

	      [dn:]<DN>

	      The former is supposed to	 be  expanded  by  the	remote	server
	      according	to the authz rules; see	slapd.conf(5) for details.  In
	      the  latter  case, whether or not	the dn:	prefix is present, the
	      string must pass DN validation and normalization.

	      The default mode is legacy, which	implies	that  the  proxy  will
	      either  perform  a  simple bind as the authcDN or	a SASL bind as
	      the authcID and assert the client's  identity  when  it  is  not
	      anonymous.   Direct  binds  are always proxied.  The other modes
	      imply that the proxy will	always either perform a	simple bind as
	      the authcDN or a SASL bind as the	authcID, unless	restricted  by
	      idassert-authzFrom   rules   (see	 below),  in  which  case  the
	      operation	will fail;  eventually,	 it  will  assert  some	 other
	      identity	according  to  <mode>.	Other identity assertion modes
	      are anonymous and	self, which respectively mean that  the	 empty
	      or  the  client's	 identity  will	be asserted; none, which means
	      that no proxyAuthz control will be used, so the authcDN  or  the
	      authcID  identity	 will be asserted.  For	all modes that require
	      the use of the proxyAuthz	control,  on  the  remote  server  the
	      proxy identity must have appropriate authzTo permissions,	or the
	      asserted identities must have appropriate	authzFrom permissions.
	      Note,  however,  that  the ID assertion feature is mostly	useful
	      when the asserted	identities do not exist	on the remote  server.
	      When  bindmethod	is  SASL,  the	authcDN	 must  be specified in
	      addition to the authcID, although	it  is	not  used  within  the
	      authentication process.

	      Flags can	be

	      override,[non-]prescriptive,proxy-authz-[non-]critical

	      When  the	 override flag is used,	identity assertion takes place
	      even when	the database is	authorizing for	the  identity  of  the
	      client,  i.e. after binding with the provided identity, and thus
	      authenticating it, the proxy  performs  the  identity  assertion
	      using the	configured identity and	authentication method.

	      When  the	 prescriptive  flag  is	used (the default), operations
	      fail with	inappropriateAuthentication for	those identities whose
	      assertion	is not allowed by the idassert-authzFrom patterns.  If
	      the non-prescriptive flag	 is  used,  operations	are  performed
	      anonymously  for those identities	whose assertion	is not allowed
	      by the idassert-authzFrom	patterns.

	      When the proxy-authz-non-critical	flag is	 used  (the  default),
	      the  proxyAuthz  control is not marked as	critical, in violation
	      of RFC 4370.  Use	of proxy-authz-critical	is recommended.

	      The TLS settings default to the  same  as	 the  main  slapd  TLS
	      settings,	except for tls_reqcert which defaults to "demand", and
	      tls_reqsan which defaults	to "allow"..

	      The  identity  associated	 to  this  directive  is also used for
	      privileged operations  whenever  idassert-bind  is  defined  and
	      acl-bind is not.	See acl-bind for details.

       idle-timeout <time>
	      This  directive  causes  a  cached  connection  to be dropped an
	      recreated	after it has been idle for the	specified  time.   The
	      value can	be specified as

	      [<d>d][<h>h][<m>m][<s>[s]]

	      where  <d>,  <h>,	 <m> and <s> are respectively treated as days,
	      hours,  minutes  and  seconds.   If  set	 before	  any	target
	      specification,  it affects all targets, unless overridden	by any
	      per-target directive.

       keepalive <idle>:<probes>:<interval>
	      The keepalive parameter sets the values  of  idle,  probes,  and
	      interval	used  to  check	whether	a socket is alive; idle	is the
	      number of	seconds	a connection needs to remain idle  before  TCP
	      starts sending keepalive probes; probes is the maximum number of
	      keepalive	probes TCP should send before dropping the connection;
	      interval	is  interval  in  seconds between individual keepalive
	      probes.  Only some systems support the  customization  of	 these
	      values;  the  keepalive  parameter  is  ignored  otherwise,  and
	      system-wide settings are used.

       tcp-user-timeout	<milliseconds>
	      If non-zero, corresponds to  the	TCP_USER_TIMEOUT  set  on  the
	      target  connections,  overriding	the  operating system setting.
	      Only some	systems	support	the customization of  this  parameter,
	      it is ignored otherwise and system-wide settings are used.

       map {attribute|objectclass} [<local name>|*] {<foreign name>|*}
	      This  maps object	classes	and attributes as in the LDAP backend.
	      See slapd-ldap(5).

       network-timeout <time>
	      Sets the network timeout	value  after  which  poll(2)/select(2)
	      following	 a  connect(2)	returns	 in  case of no	activity.  The
	      value  is	 in  seconds,  and  it	can  be	  specified   as   for
	      idle-timeout.   If  set  before  any  target  specification,  it
	      affects  all  targets,  unless  overridden  by  any   per-target
	      directive.

       nretries	{forever|never|<nretries>}
	      This  directive  defines how many	times a	bind should be retried
	      in case of temporary failure in contacting a target.  If defined
	      before any target	specification, it applies to all  targets  (by
	      default,	3  times);  the	 global	 value	can  be	 overridden by
	      redefinitions inside each	target specification.

       rewrite*	...
	      The rewrite options are described	in the "REWRITING" section.

       subtree-{exclude|include} <rule>
	      This directive allows one	to indicate what subtrees are actually
	      served by	a target.  The syntax of the supported rules is

	      <rule>: [dn[.<style>]:]<pattern>

	      <style>: subtree|children|regex

	      When <style> is either subtree or	children the <pattern> is a DN
	      that must	be within the naming context  served  by  the  target.
	      When  <style>  is	regex the <pattern> is a regex(5) pattern.  If
	      the dn.<style>: prefix is	 omitted,  dn.subtree:	is  implicitly
	      assumed for backward compatibility.

	      In  the  subtree-exclude form if the request DN matches at least
	      one rule,	the target is  not  considered	while  fulfilling  the
	      request;	otherwise, the target is considered based on the value
	      of the request DN.  When the request is a	search,	also the scope
	      is considered.

	      In the subtree-include form if the request DN matches  at	 least
	      one rule,	the target is considered while fulfilling the request;
	      otherwise	the target is ignored.

		  |  match  | exclude |
		  +---------+---------+-------------------+
		  |    T    |	 T    |	not candidate	  |
		  |    F    |	 T    |	continue checking |
		  +---------+---------+-------------------+
		  |    T    |	 F    |	candidate	  |
		  |    F    |	 F    |	not candidate	  |
		  +---------+---------+-------------------+

	      There  may  be  multiple	occurrences  of	the subtree-exclude or
	      subtree-include directive	for each of the	targets, but they  are
	      mutually exclusive.

       suffixmassage <virtual naming context> <real naming context>
	      All  the directives starting with	"rewrite" refer	to the rewrite
	      engine that  has	been  added  to	 slapd.	  The  "suffixmassage"
	      directive	 was  introduced  in  the LDAP backend to allow	suffix
	      massaging	 while	proxying.   It	has  been  obsoleted  by   the
	      rewriting	 tools.	  However, both	for backward compatibility and
	      for  ease	 of  configuration  when  simple  suffix  massage   is
	      required,	 it  has been preserved.  It wraps the basic rewriting
	      instructions that	perform	suffix massaging.  See the "REWRITING"
	      section for a detailed list of the rewrite rules it implies.

       t-f-support {NO|yes|discover}
	      enable if	the remote server supports absolute filters  (see  RFC
	      4526  for	 details).  If set to discover,	support	is detected by
	      reading the remote server's root DSE.  If	set before any	target
	      specification,  it affects all targets, unless overridden	by any
	      per-target directive.

       timeout [<op>=]<val> [...]
	      This  directive  allows  one  to	set  per-operation   timeouts.
	      Operations can be

	      <op> ::= bind, add, delete, modrdn, modify, compare, search

	      The  overall  duration  of  the  search  operation is controlled
	      either by	the timelimit parameter	 or  by	 server-side  enforced
	      time  limits  (see  timelimit  and  limits  in slapd.conf(5) for
	      details).	 This timeout parameter	controls how long  the	target
	      can be irresponsive before the operation is aborted.  Timeout is
	      meaningless  for	the  remaining operations, unbind and abandon,
	      which do not imply any response, while it	is not yet implemented
	      in currently supported extended operations.  If no operation  is
	      specified, the timeout val affects all supported operations.  If
	      specified	 before	 any target definition,	it affects all targets
	      unless overridden	by per-target directives.

	      Note: if the timeout is exceeded,	 the  operation	 is  cancelled
	      (according  to  the  cancel  directive);	the  protocol does not
	      provide any means	to rollback operations,	so the client will not
	      be notified  about  the  result  of  the	operation,  which  may
	      eventually  succeeded  or	 not.  In case the timeout is exceeded
	      during a bind operation, the connection is destroyed,  according
	      to RFC4511.

       tls {none|[try-]start|[try-]propagate|ldaps}
	      [starttls=no]	    [tls_cert=<file>]	      [tls_key=<file>]
	      [tls_cacert=<file>]			[tls_cacertdir=<path>]
	      [tls_reqcert=never|allow|try|demand]
	      [tls_reqsan=never|allow|try|demand] [tls_cipher_suite=<ciphers>]
	      [tls_ecname=<names>] [tls_crlcheck=none|peer|all]
	      Specify TLS settings regular connections.

	      If  the  first  parameter	is not "none" then this	configures the
	      TLS settings to be used for regular connections.	 The  StartTLS
	      extended operation will be used when establishing	the connection
	      unless  the  URI directive protocol scheme is ldaps://.  In that
	      case this	keyword	may only be set	to "ldaps"  and	 the  StartTLS
	      operation	will not be used.

	      With  propagate, the proxy issues	the StartTLS operation only if
	      the original connection has a TLS	layer set up.  The try-	prefix
	      instructs	the proxy  to  continue	 operations  if	 the  StartTLS
	      operation	failed;	its use	is not recommended.

	      The  TLS	settings  default  to  the  same as the	main slapd TLS
	      settings,	except for tls_reqcert	which  defaults	 to  "demand",
	      tls_reqsan  which	 defaults  to  "allow",	 and starttls which is
	      overshadowed by the first	keyword	and thus ignored.

	      If set before any	target specification, it affects all  targets,
	      unless overridden	by any per-target directive.

SCENARIOS
       A  powerful (and	in some	sense dangerous) rewrite engine	has been added
       to both the LDAP	and Meta backends.  While the former can gain  limited
       beneficial  effects  from  rewriting  stuff,  the  latter can become an
       amazingly powerful tool.

       Consider	a couple of scenarios first.

       1) Two directory	servers	 share	two  levels  of	 naming	 context;  say
       "dc=a,dc=foo,dc=com"  and  "dc=b,dc=foo,dc=com".	  Then,	an unambiguous
       Meta database can be configured as:

	      database meta
	      suffix   "dc=foo,dc=com"
	      uri      "ldap://a.foo.com/dc=a,dc=foo,dc=com"
	      uri      "ldap://b.foo.com/dc=b,dc=foo,dc=com"

       Operations directed to a	specific target	can be easily resolved because
       there are no ambiguities.  The  only  operation	that  may  resolve  to
       multiple	 targets  is  a	 search	with base "dc=foo,dc=com" and scope at
       least "one", which results in spawning two searches to the targets.

       2a) Two directory servers don't share any portion  of  naming  context,
       but  they'd  present  as	a single DIT [Caveat: uniqueness of (massaged)
       entries among the two servers is	 assumed;  integrity  checks  risk  to
       incur  in  excessive  overhead  and have	not been implemented].	Say we
       have "dc=bar,dc=org" and	"o=Foo,c=US", and we'd like them to appear  as
       branches	   of	 "dc=foo,dc=com",    say    "dc=a,dc=foo,dc=com"   and
       "dc=b,dc=foo,dc=com".  Then we need to configure	our Meta backend as:

	      database	    meta
	      suffix	    "dc=foo,dc=com"

	      uri	    "ldap://a.bar.com/dc=a,dc=foo,dc=com"
	      suffixmassage "dc=a,dc=foo,dc=com" "dc=bar,dc=org"

	      uri	    "ldap://b.foo.com/dc=b,dc=foo,dc=com"
	      suffixmassage "dc=b,dc=foo,dc=com" "o=Foo,c=US"

       Again, operations can be	 resolved  without  ambiguity,	although  some
       rewriting  is required.	Notice that the	virtual	naming context of each
       target is a branch of the database's naming context;  it	 is  rewritten
       back  and  forth	 when  operations  are	performed  towards  the	target
       servers.	 What "back and	forth" means will be clarified later.

       When a search with base "dc=foo,dc=com" is attempted, if	the  scope  is
       "base"  it fails	with "no such object"; in fact,	the common root	of the
       two targets (prior to massaging)	does  not  exist.   If	the  scope  is
       "one",  both  targets  are  contacted  with  the	 base replaced by each
       target's	base; the scope	is derated to "base".	In  general,  a	 scope
       "one"  search  is  honored,  and	 the  scope  is	derated, only when the
       incoming	base is	at most	one level lower	of a target's  naming  context
       (prior to massaging).

       Finally,	 if  the  scope	is "sub" the incoming base is replaced by each
       target's	unmassaged naming context, and the scope is not	altered.

       2b) Consider the	above reported scenario	with the two  servers  sharing
       the same	naming context:

	      database	    meta
	      suffix	    "dc=foo,dc=com"

	      uri	    "ldap://a.bar.com/dc=foo,dc=com"
	      suffixmassage "dc=foo,dc=com" "dc=bar,dc=org"

	      uri	    "ldap://b.foo.com/dc=foo,dc=com"
	      suffixmassage "dc=foo,dc=com" "o=Foo,c=US"

       All  the	 previous considerations hold, except that now there is	no way
       to unambiguously	resolve	a DN.  In this case, all the  operations  that
       require	an  unambiguous	 target	 selection  will fail unless the DN is
       already	cached	or  a  default	target	has   been   set.    Practical
       configurations may result as a combination of all the above scenarios.

ACLs
       Note  on	 ACLs:	at present you may add whatever	ACL rule you desire to
       the Meta	(and LDAP) backends.  However, the meaning  of	an  ACL	 on  a
       proxy  may  require  some  considerations.   Two	 philosophies  may  be
       considered:

       a) the remote server dictates the permissions; the proxy	simply	passes
       back what it gets from the remote server.

       b) the remote server unveils "everything"; the proxy is responsible for
       protecting data from unauthorized access.

       Of  course  the	latter	sounds	unreasonable,  but  it	is not.	 It is
       possible	to imagine scenarios in	which a	 remote	 host  discloses  data
       that  can  be  considered "public" inside an intranet, and a proxy that
       connects	it to the internet may impose additional constraints.  To this
       purpose,	the proxy should be able to comply with	all the	 ACL  matching
       criteria	 that the server supports.  This has been achieved with	regard
       to all the criteria supported by	slapd except  a	 special  subtle  case
       (please	 file	an   ITS   if	you   can   find   other   exceptions:
       <http://www.openldap.org/its/>).	 The rule

	      access to	dn="<dn>" attrs=<attr>
		     by	dnattr=<dnattr>	read
		     by	* none

       cannot be matched iff the attribute that	is being requested, <attr>, is
       NOT <dnattr>, and the attribute that determines	membership,  <dnattr>,
       has not been requested (e.g. in a search)

       In  fact	 this  ACL  is resolved	by slapd using the portion of entry it
       retrieved  from	the  remote  server  without  requiring	 any   further
       intervention of the backend, so,	if the <dnattr>	attribute has not been
       fetched,	 the  match  cannot  be	 assessed because the attribute	is not
       present,	not because no value matches the requirement!

       Note on ACLs and	attribute mapping: ACLs	 are  applied  to  the	mapped
       attributes;  for	 instance,  if the attribute locally known as "foo" is
       mapped to "bar" on a remote server, then	local ACLs apply to  attribute
       "foo"  and  are	totally	unaware	of its remote name.  The remote	server
       will check permissions for "bar", and the local	server	will  possibly
       enforce additional restrictions to "foo".

REWRITING
       A  string  is  rewritten	according to a set of rules, called a `rewrite
       context'.   The	rules  are  based  on  POSIX  (''extended'')   regular
       expressions   (regex)   with   substring	  matching;   basic   variable
       substitution and	map resolution of substrings is	 allowed  by  specific
       mechanisms   detailed  in  the  following.   The	 behavior  of  pattern
       matching/substitution can be altered by a set of	flags.

       The underlying concept is to build a lightweight	rewrite	module for the
       slapd server (initially dedicated to the	LDAP backend).

Passes
       An incoming string is matched against a set of rules.  Rules  are  made
       of  a regex match pattern, a substitution pattern and a set of actions,
       described by a set of flags.  In	case of	match a	 string	 rewriting  is
       performed  according  to	 the  substitution  pattern that allows	one to
       refer to	substrings matched in the incoming string.   The  actions,  if
       any,  are  finally  performed.	The  substitution  pattern  allows map
       resolution of substrings.  A map	 is  a	generic	 object	 that  maps  a
       substitution  pattern  to  a  value.  The flags are divided in "Pattern
       matching	Flags" and "Action Flags"; the former alter  the  regex	 match
       pattern	behavior while the latter alter	the action that	is taken after
       substitution.

Pattern	Matching Flags
       `C'    honors case in matching (default is case insensitive)

       `R'    use   POSIX   ''basic''	regular	  expressions	(default    is
	      ''extended'')

       `M{n}' allow  no	more than n recursive passes for a specific rule; does
	      not alter	the max	total count of passes, so it can only  enforce
	      a	stricter limit for a specific rule.

Action Flags
       `:'    apply the	rule once only (default	is recursive)

       `@'    stop  applying rules in case of match; the current rule is still
	      applied recursively; combine with	`:' to apply the current  rule
	      only once	and then stop.

       `#'    stop  current  operation	if  the	 rule  matches,	 and  issue an
	      `unwilling to perform' error.

       `G{n}' jump n rules back	and  forth  (watch  for	 loops!).   Note  that
	      `G{1}' is	implicit in every rule.

       `I'    ignores  errors  in  rule;  this	means,	in case	of error, e.g.
	      issued by	a map, the error is treated as a  missed  match.   The
	      `unwilling to perform' is	not overridden.

       `U{n}' uses  n  as  return  code	if the rule matches; the flag does not
	      alter the	recursive  behavior  of	 the  rule,  so,  to  have  it
	      performed	 only  once,  it must be used in combination with `:',
	      e.g.   `:U{16}'  returns	the  value  `16'  after	 exactly   one
	      execution	  of   the   rule,  if	the  pattern  matches.	 As  a
	      consequence, its behavior	is equivalent to `@', with the	return
	      code  set	to n; or, in other words, `@' is equivalent to `U{0}'.
	      By convention, the freely	available codes	are above 16 included;
	      the others are reserved.

       The ordering of the flags can be	significant.   For  instance:  `IG{2}'
       means  ignore errors and	jump two lines ahead both in case of match and
       in case of error, while `G{2}I' means ignore errors, but	jump two lines
       ahead only in case of match.

       More flags (mainly Action Flags)	will be	added as needed.

Pattern	matching:
       See regex(7) and/or re_format(7).

Substitution Pattern Syntax:
       Everything starting with	`%' requires substitution;

       the only	obvious	exception is `%%', which is left as is;

       the basic substitution is `%d', where `d' is a digit; 0 means the whole
       string, while 1-9 is a submatch;

       a `%' followed by a `{' invokes an advanced substitution.  The  pattern
       is:

	      `%' `{' [	<op> ] <name> `(' <substitution> `)' `}'

       where <name> must be a legal name for the map, i.e.

	      <name> ::= [a-z][a-z0-9]*	(case insensitive)
	      <op> ::= `>' `|' `&' `&&'	`*' `**' `$'

       and <substitution> must be a legal substitution pattern,	with no	limits
       on the nesting level.

       The operators are:

       >      sub  context invocation; <name> must be a	legal, already defined
	      rewrite context name

       |      external command invocation;  <name>  must  refer	 to  a	legal,
	      already defined command name (NOT	IMPL.)

       &      variable	assignment;  <name>  defines a variable	in the running
	      operation	structure which	can be dereferenced later; operator  &
	      assigns  a  variable  in	the rewrite context scope; operator &&
	      assigns a	variable that scopes  the  entire  session,  e.g.  its
	      value can	be dereferenced	later by other rewrite contexts

       *      variable	dereferencing; <name> must refer to a variable that is
	      defined and assigned  for	 the  running  operation;  operator  *
	      dereferences a variable scoping the rewrite context; operator **
	      dereferences  a  variable	 scoping  the  whole session, e.g. the
	      value is passed across rewrite contexts

       $      parameter	 dereferencing;	 <name>	 must  refer  to  an  existing
	      parameter;  the  idea is to make some run-time parameters	set by
	      the system available to the rewrite engine, as the  client  host
	      name,  the  bind	DN  if any, constant parameters	initialized at
	      config time, and so on; no parameter is currently	set by	either
	      back-ldap	 or  back-meta,	but constant parameters	can be defined
	      in the configuration file	by using the rewriteParam directive.

       Substitution escaping has been delegated	to the `%'  symbol,  which  is
       used  instead  of  `\'  in  string substitution patterns	because	`\' is
       already	escaped	 by  slapd's  low  level  parsing   routines;	as   a
       consequence,   regex   escaping	 requires   two	  `\'	symbols,  e.g.
       `.*\.foo\.bar' must be written as `.*\\.foo\\.bar'.

Rewrite	context:
       A rewrite context is a set of rules which are applied in	sequence.  The
       basic idea is to	have an	application initialize a rewrite engine	(think
       of Apache's mod_rewrite ...) with  a  set  of  rewrite  contexts;  when
       string  rewriting  is  required,	 one  invokes  the appropriate rewrite
       context with the	input string and obtains the newly rewritten one if no
       errors occur.

       Each basic server operation is associated to a  rewrite	context;  they
       are  divided  in	two main groups: client	-> server and server ->	client
       rewriting.

       client -> server:

	      (default)		   if defined and no specific context
				   is available
	      bindDN		   bind
	      searchBase	   search
	      searchFilter	   search
	      searchFilterAttrDN   search
	      compareDN		   compare
	      compareAttrDN	   compare AVA
	      addDN		   add
	      addAttrDN		   add AVA
	      modifyDN		   modify
	      modifyAttrDN	   modify AVA
	      modrDN		   modrdn
	      newSuperiorDN	   modrdn
	      deleteDN		   delete
	      exopPasswdDN	   password modify extended operation DN if proxy

       server -> client:

	      searchResult	   search (only	if defined; no default;
				   acts	on DN and DN-syntax attributes
				   of search results)
	      searchAttrDN	   search AVA
	      matchedDN		   all ops (only if applicable)

Basic configuration syntax
       rewriteEngine { on | off	}
	      If `on', the requested rewriting	is  performed;	if  `off',  no
	      rewriting	 takes	place  (an  easy way to	stop rewriting without
	      altering too much	the configuration file).

       rewriteContext <context name> [ alias <aliased context name> ]
	      <Context name> is	the name that identifies the context, i.e. the
	      name used	by the application to refer to the  set	 of  rules  it
	      contains.	  It  is used also to reference	sub contexts in	string
	      rewriting.  A context may	alias another one.  In this  case  the
	      alias  context  contains	no  rule, and any reference to it will
	      result in	accessing the aliased one.

       rewriteRule <regex match	pattern> <substitution pattern>	[ <flags> ]
	      Determines how a	string	can  be	 rewritten  if	a  pattern  is
	      matched.	Examples are reported below.

Additional configuration syntax:
       rewriteMap <map type> <map name>	[ <map attrs> ]
	      Allows  one  to define a map that	transforms substring rewriting
	      into  something  else.   The  map	 is  referenced	  inside   the
	      substitution pattern of a	rule.

       rewriteParam <param name> <param	value>
	      Sets  a value with global	scope, that can	be dereferenced	by the
	      command `%{$paramName}'.

       rewriteMaxPasses	<number	of passes> [<number of passes per rule>]
	      Sets the maximum number of total rewriting passes	 that  can  be
	      performed	 in  a	single	rewrite	operation (to avoid loops).  A
	      safe default is set to 100; note that  reaching  this  limit  is
	      still  treated  as  a  success; recursive	invocation of rules is
	      simply  interrupted.   The  count	 applies  to   the   rewriting
	      operation	 as  a whole, not to any single	rule; an optional per-
	      rule limit can be	set.  This  limit  is  overridden  by  setting
	      specific per-rule	limits with the	`M{n}' flag.

Configuration examples:
       # set to	`off' to disable rewriting
       rewriteEngine on

       # the rules the "suffixmassage" directive implies
       rewriteEngine on
       # all dataflow from client to server referring to DNs
       rewriteContext default
       rewriteRule "(.*)<virtualnamingcontext>$" "%1<realnamingcontext>" ":"
       # empty filter rule
       rewriteContext searchFilter
       # all dataflow from server to client
       rewriteContext searchResult
       rewriteRule "(.*)<realnamingcontext>$" "%1<virtualnamingcontext>" ":"
       rewriteContext searchAttrDN alias searchResult
       rewriteContext matchedDN	alias searchResult

       # Everything defined here goes into the `default' context.
       # This rule changes the naming context of anything sent
       # to `dc=home,dc=net' to	`dc=OpenLDAP, dc=org'

       rewriteRule "(.*)dc=home,[ ]?dc=net"
		   "%1dc=OpenLDAP, dc=org"  ":"

       # since a pretty/normalized DN does not include spaces
       # after rdn separators, e.g. `,', this rule suffices:

       rewriteRule "(.*)dc=home,dc=net"
		   "%1dc=OpenLDAP,dc=org"  ":"

       # Start a new context (ends input of the	previous one).
       # This rule adds	blanks between DN parts	if not present.
       rewriteContext  addBlanks
       rewriteRule     "(.*),([^ ].*)" "%1, %2"

       # This one eats blanks
       rewriteContext  eatBlanks
       rewriteRule     "(.*),[ ](.*)" "%1,%2"

       # Here control goes back	to the default rewrite
       # context; rules	are appended to	the existing ones.
       # anything that gets here is piped into rule `addBlanks'
       rewriteContext  default
       rewriteRule     ".*" "%{>addBlanks(%0)}"	":"

       # Rewrite the search base according to `default'	rules.
       rewriteContext  searchBase alias	default

       # Search	results	with OpenLDAP DN are rewritten back with
       # `dc=home,dc=net' naming context, with spaces eaten.
       rewriteContext  searchResult
       rewriteRule     "(.*[^ ]?)[ ]?dc=OpenLDAP,[ ]?dc=org"
		       "%{>eatBlanks(%1)}dc=home,dc=net"    ":"

       # Bind with email instead of full DN: we	first need
       # an ldap map that turns	attributes into	a DN (the
       # argument used when invoking the map is	appended to
       # the URI and acts as the filter	portion)
       rewriteMap ldap attr2dn "ldap://host/dc=my,dc=org?dn?sub"

       # Then we need to detect	DN made	up of a	single email,
       # e.g. `mail=someone@example.com'; note that the	rule
       # in case of match stops	rewriting; in case of error,
       # it is ignored.	 In case we are	mapping	virtual
       # to real naming	contexts, we also need to rewrite
       # regular DNs, because the definition of	a bindDn
       # rewrite context overrides the default definition.
       rewriteContext bindDN
       rewriteRule "^mail=[^,]+@[^,]+$"	"%{attr2dn(%0)}" ":@I"

       # This is a rather sophisticated	example. It massages a
       # search	filter in case who performs the	search has
       # administrative	privileges.  First we need to keep
       # track of the bind DN of the incoming request, which is
       # stored	in a variable called `binddn' with session scope,
       # and left in place to allow regular binding:
       rewriteContext  bindDN
       rewriteRule     ".+" "%{&&binddn(%0)}%0"	":"

       # A search filter containing `uid=' is rewritten	only
       # if an appropriate DN is bound.
       # To do this, in	the first rule the bound DN is
       # dereferenced, while the filter	is decomposed in a
       # prefix, in the	value of the `uid=<arg>' AVA, and
       # in a suffix. A	tag `<>' is appended to	the DN.
       # If the	DN refers to an	entry in the `ou=admin'	subtree,
       # the filter is rewritten OR-ing	the `uid=<arg>'	with
       # `cn=<arg>'; otherwise it is left as is. This could be
       # useful, for instance, to allow	apache's auth_ldap-1.4
       # module	to authenticate	users with both	`uid' and
       # `cn', but only	if the request comes from a possible
       # `cn=Web auth,ou=admin,dc=home,dc=net' user.
       rewriteContext searchFilter
       rewriteRule "(.*\\()uid=([a-z0-9_]+)(\\).*)"
	 "%{**binddn}<>%{&prefix(%1)}%{&arg(%2)}%{&suffix(%3)}"
	 ":I"
       rewriteRule "[^,]+,ou=admin,dc=home,dc=net"
	 "%{*prefix}|(uid=%{*arg})(cn=%{*arg})%{*suffix}" ":@I"
       rewriteRule ".*<>" "%{*prefix}uid=%{*arg}%{*suffix}" ":"

       # This example shows how	to strip unwanted DN-valued
       # attribute values from a search	result;	the first rule
       # matches DN values below "ou=People,dc=example,dc=com";
       # in case of match the rewriting	exits successfully.
       # The second rule matches everything else and causes
       # the value to be rejected.
       rewriteContext searchResult
       rewriteRule ".*,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com" "%0" ":@"
       rewriteRule ".*"	"" "#"

LDAP Proxy resolution (a possible evolution of slapd-ldap(5)):
       In  case	 the  rewritten	 DN is an LDAP URI, the	operation is initiated
       towards the host[:port] indicated in the	uri, if	it does	not  refer  to
       the local server.  E.g.:

	 rewriteRule '^cn=root,.*' '%0'			    'G{3}'
	 rewriteRule '^cn=[a-l].*' 'ldap://ldap1.my.org/%0' ':@'
	 rewriteRule '^cn=[m-z].*' 'ldap://ldap2.my.org/%0' ':@'
	 rewriteRule '.*'	   'ldap://ldap3.my.org/%0' ':@'

       (Rule  1	is simply there	to illustrate the `G{n}' action; it could have
       been written:

	 rewriteRule '^cn=root,.*' 'ldap://ldap3.my.org/%0' ':@'

       with the	advantage of saving one	rewrite	pass ...)

ACCESS CONTROL
       The meta	backend	does not honor	all  ACL  semantics  as	 described  in
       slapd.access(5).	  In  general,	access	checking  is  delegated	to the
       remote server(s).  Only read (=r) access	to the entry  pseudo-attribute
       and to the other	attribute values of the	entries	returned by the	search
       operation is honored, which is performed	by the frontend.

PROXY CACHE OVERLAY
       The  proxy  cache  overlay  allows  caching  of	LDAP  search  requests
       (queries) in a local database.  See slapo-pcache(5) for details.

DEPRECATED STATEMENTS
       The following statements	have been deprecated and should	no  longer  be
       used.

       pseudorootdn <substitute	DN in case of rootdn bind>
	      Use idassert-bind	instead.

       pseudorootpw <substitute	password in case of rootdn bind>
	      Use idassert-bind	instead.

FILES
       /usr/local/etc/openldap/slapd.conf
	      default slapd configuration file

SEE ALSO
       slapd.conf(5),	slapd-asyncmeta(5),   slapd-ldap(5),  slapo-pcache(5),
       slapd(8), regex(7), re_format(7).

AUTHOR
       Pierangelo Masarati, based on back-ldap by Howard Chu

OpenLDAP 2.6.9			  2024/11/26			 SLAPD-META(5)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
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