openldap/doc/drafts/draft-masarati-ldap-whatfailed.xml

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<!-- $OpenLDAP$ -->

<rfc category="std" ipr="full3978" docName="draft-masarati-ldap-whatfailed.txt">

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    <front>
        <title abbrev='LDAP WHATFAILED'>LDAP "What Failed?" Control</title>
        <author initials='P.' surname="Masarati" fullname='Pierangelo Masarati'>
            <organization abbrev='Politecnico di Milano'>
                Politecnico di Milano
            </organization>
            <address>
                <postal>
                    <street>Dipartimento di Ingegneria Aerospaziale</street>
                    <street>via La Masa 34</street>
                    <city>Milano</city>
                    <code>20156</code>
                    <country>IT</country>
                </postal>
                <phone>+39 02 2399 8309</phone>
                <facsimile>+39 02 2399 8334</facsimile>
                <email>ando@OpenLDAP.org</email>
                <uri>http://www.aero.polimi.it/masarati/</uri>
            </address>
        </author>
        <!--date/-->
        <date month='October' year='2008' />
        <abstract>
            <t>
This document describes the LDAP "What Failed?" control.
This control allows DUAs to request, in response to a failed operation
request, the object identifier of those extensions that caused
the operation to fail.
            </t>
        </abstract>
    </front>

    <middle>
        <section title="Background and Intended Use">
            <t>
The LDAP Protocol <xref target="RFC4510" /> is extensible.
Extensions include controls, extended requests and extensions related
to other aspects of the protocol, for example those described in
<xref target="RFC4526" />, <xref target="RFC4529" /> and more.
            </t>

            <t>
Operations may fail for different reasons.
The resultCode may help in determining the reason of a failure.
The (optional) diagnosticsMessage fields of a LDAPResponse
could also be of help.
However, according to <xref target="RFC4511" />,
implementations MUST NOT rely on the returned values,
which are simply intended to be presented as are to human users.
            </t>

            <t>
In case of failure related to the inability to process a control
marked as critical in a request, the specific resultCode
unavailableCriticalExtension is returned.
In case of failure related to an unrecognized extendedReq, the generic
resultCode protocolError is returned.
Failures related to handling other extensions may result 
in other generic resultCode values.
            </t>

            <t>
As a consequence, DUAs may be unable to exactly determine
what extension, if any, caused a failure.
The "What Failed?" control represents a means for the DSA to inform
DUAs about what specific extensions, if any, caused an error notified
by the DSA.
            </t>

            <t>
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 <xref target="RFC2119" />.
            </t>
        </section>

        <section title='LDAP "What Failed?" Control'>
            <section title="Control Semantics">
                <t>
The presence of the "What Failed?" LDAP control in a LDAP request
indicates that the DUA, in case of error, wishes to receive detailed
information about what extension, if any, caused the error.
                </t>

                <t>
The criticality of the control in the request SHOULD be FALSE.
According to the semantics of the criticality field as indicated
in <xref target="RFC4511" />, this ensures that in case the control
is not recognized by the DSA, it does not cause itself an error.
                </t>

                <t>
The presence of this control in a request does not guarantee that the DSA
will return detailed information about what extensions caused an error.
Considering the requirement on the criticality of the control,
the DSA MAY simply choose to ignore the control.
The DSA MAY hide information about failure in handling an extension
to prevent disclosure of other information.
The DSA MAY choose to notify an error as soon as it is detected,
instead of proceed checking its ability to handle any other extension
present in a request.
                </t>

                <t>
Implementations may choose to check the validity of extensions,
including controls, as soon as they are parsed.
As a consequence, a critical control might result in an error
before thw "What Failed?" control request is parsed.
Implementations SHOULD check anyway the presence of this control,
unless they detect that the remaining part of the request
is malformed.
Clients SHOULD NOT rely on any specific ordering of controls handling
when requesting the "What Failed?" control.
                </t>

                <t>
Servers implementing this technical specification SHOULD publish
the object identifier whatFailed-oid (IANA assigned;
see <xref target="iana_considerations" />) as a value
of the 'supportedControl' attribute <xref target="RFC4512" />
in their root DSE.
                </t>
            </section>

            <section title="Control Request">
                <t>
The controlType is whatFailed-oid (IANA assigned;
see <xref target="iana_considerations" />);
the controlValue MUST be absent;
the criticality SHOULD be FALSE.
                </t>
            </section>

            <section title="Control Response">
                <figure>
                    <preamble>
The controlType is whatFailed-oid (IANA assigned;
see <xref target="iana_considerations" />);
the controlValue is:
                    </preamble>
                    <artwork>
    controlValue ::= SET OF oid LDAPOID
                    </artwork>
                    <postamble>
If the set of extension OID is empty, the control is omitted
from the response.
The criticality MUST be FALSE.
                    </postamble>
                </figure>
            </section>
        </section>

        <section title="Implementation Notes">
            <t>
The "What Failed?" LDAP Control is implemented in OpenLDAP software
using the temporary OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.4203.666.5.17 under OpenLDAP's
experimental OID arc.
            </t>
        </section>

        <section title="Security Considerations">
            <t>
Implementations MUST take measures to prevent the disclosure
of sensible information whenever this may result from disclosing
what extension caused an error.
This can consist in excluding the OID of specific extensions from
the controlValue in the response, or in entirely omitting the control
in the response.
            </t>
        </section>

        <section anchor="iana_considerations" title="IANA Considerations">
            <section title="Object Identifier Registration">
                <figure>
                    <preamble>
It is requested that IANA register upon Standards Action an LDAP
Object Identifier for use in this technical specification.
                    </preamble>
                    <artwork>
      Subject: Request for LDAP OID Registration
      Person &amp; email address to contact for further information:
          Pierangelo Masarati &lt;ando@OpenLDAP.org&gt;
      Specification: (I-D)
      Author/Change Controller: IESG
      Comments:
          Identifies the LDAP "What Failed?" Control request
          and response
                    </artwork>
                </figure>
            </section>
        </section>

        <section title="Acknowledgments">
        </section>
    </middle>

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            &rfc4529;
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