# $OpenLDAP$ # Copyright 1999-2000, The OpenLDAP Foundation, All Rights Reserved. # COPYING RESTRICTIONS APPLY, see COPYRIGHT. H1: Database Creation and Maintenance Tools This section tells you how to create a slapd database from scratch, and how to do trouble shooting if you run into problems. There are two ways to create a database. First, you can create the database on-line using LDAP. With this method, you simply start up slapd and add entries using the LDAP client of your choice. This method is fine for relatively small databases (a few hundred or thousand entries, depending on your requirements). This method works for database types which support updates. The second method of database creation is to do it off-line using special utilities provided with slapd. This method is best if you have many thousands of entries to create, which would take an unacceptably long time using the LDAP method, or if you want to ensure the database is not accessed while it is being created. Note that not all database types support these utilitites. H2: Creating a database over LDAP With this method, you use the LDAP client of your choice (e.g., the {{ldapadd}}(1)) to add entries, just like you would once the database is created. You should be sure to set the following options in the configuration file before starting {{slapd}}(8). > suffix As described in the {{SECT:General Database Directives}} section, this option defines which entries are to be held by this database. You should set this to the DN of the root of the subtree you are trying to create. For example: > suffix "dc=example,dc=com" You should be sure to specify a directory where the index files should be created: > directory For example: > directory /usr/local/var/openldap-ldbm You need to create this directory with appropriate permissions such that slapd can write to it. You need to configure slapd so that you can connect to it as a directory user with permission to add entries. You can configure the directory to support a special {{super-user}} or {{root}} user just for this purpose. This is done through the following two options in the database definition: > rootdn > rootpw For example: > rootdn "cn=Manager,dc=example,dc=com" > rootpw secret These options specify a DN and password that can be used to authenticate as the {{super-user}} entry of the database (i.e., the entry allowed to do anything). The DN and password specified here will always work, regardless of whether the entry named actually exists or has the password given. This solves the chicken-and-egg problem of how to authenticate and add entries before any entries yet exist. Finally, you should make sure that the database definition contains the index definitions you want: > index { | default} [pres,eq,approx,sub,none] For example, to index the {{EX:cn}}, {{EX:sn}}, {{EX:uid}} and {{EX:objectclass}} attributes, the following {{EX:index}} directives could be used: > index cn,sn,uid > index objectClass pres,eq Note that not all index types are available with all attribute types. See {{SECT:The slapd Configuration File}} section for more details on this option. Once you have configured things to your liking, start up slapd, connect with your LDAP client, and start adding entries. For example, to add an organization entry and an organizational role entry using the {{I:ldapadd}} tool, you could create an {{TERM:LDIF}} file called {{EX:entries.ldif}} with the contents: > # Organization for Example Corporation > dn: dc=example,dc=com > objectClass: dcObject > objectClass: organization > dc: example > o: Example Corporation > description: The Example Corporation > > # Organizational Role for Directory Manager > dn: cn=Manager,dc=example,dc=com > objectClass: organizationalRole > cn: Manager > description: Directory Manager and then use a command like this to actually create the entry: > ldapadd -f entries.ldif -x -D "cn=Manager,dc=example,dc=com" -w secret The above command assumes settings provided in the above examples. H2: Creating a database off-line The second method of database creation is to do it off-line, using the slapd database tools described below. This method is best if you have many thousands of entries to create, which would take an unacceptably long time to add using the LDAP method described above. These tools read the slapd configuration file and an input file containing a text representation of the entries to add. For database types which support the tools, they produce the database files directly (otherwise you must use the on-line method above). There are several important configuration options you will want to be sure and set in the config file database definition first: > suffix As described in the {{SECT:General Database Directives}} section, this option defines which entries are to be held by this database. You should set this to the DN of the root of the subtree you are trying to create. For example: > suffix "dc=example,dc=com" You should be sure to specify a directory where the index files should be created: > directory For example: > directory /usr/local/var/openldap-ldbm Finally, you need to specify which indexes you want to build. This is done by one or more index options. > index { | default} [pres,eq,approx,sub,none] For example: > index cn,sn,uid pres,eq,sub > index objectClass eq This would create presence, equality and substring indexes for the {{EX:cn}}, {{EX:sn}}, and {{EX:uid}} attributes and an equality index for the {{EX:objectClass}} attribute. See the configuration file section for more information on this option. H3: The {{EX:slapadd}} program Once you've configured things to your liking, you create the primary database and associated indexes by running the {{slapadd}}(8) program: > slapadd -l -f > [-d ] [-n |-b ] The arguments have the following meanings: > -l Specifies the LDIF input file containing the entries to add in text form (described below in the {{SECT:The LDIF text entry format}} section). > -f Specifies the slapd configuration file that tells where to create the indexes, what indexes to create, etc. > -d Turn on debugging, as specified by {{EX:}}. The debug levels are the same as for slapd. See the {{SECT:Command-Line Options}} section in {{SECT:Running slapd}}. > -n An optional argument that specifies which database to modify. The first database listed in the configuration file is {{EX:1}}, the second {{EX:2}}, etc. By default, the first ldbm database in the configuration file is used. Should not be used in conjunction with {{EX:-b}}. > -b An optional argument that specifies which database to modify. The provided suffix is matched against a database {{EX:suffix}} directive to determine the database number. Should not be used in conjunction with {{EX:-n}}. H3: The {{EX:slapindex}} program Sometimes it may be necessary to regenerate indices (such as after modifying {{slapd.conf}}(5)). This is possible using the {{slapindex}}(8) program. {{slapindex}} is invoked like this > slapindex -f > [-d ] [-n |-b ] Where the {{EX:-f}}, {{EX:-d}}, {{EX:-n}} and {{EX:-b}} options are the same as for the {{slapadd}}(1) program. {{slapindex}} rebuilds all indices based upon the current database contents. H3: The {{EX:slapcat}} program The {{EX:slapcat}} program is used to dump the database to an {{TERM:LDIF}} file. This can be useful when you want to make a human-readable backup of your database or when you want to edit your database off-line. The program is invoked like this: > slapcat -l -f > [-d ] [-n |-b ] where {{EX:-n}} or {{EX:-b}} is used to select the database in the {{slapd.conf}}(5) specified using {{EX:-f}}. The corresponding LDIF output is written to standard output or to the file specified using the {{EX:-l}} option. !if 0 H3: The {{EX:ldif}} program The {{ldif}}(1) program is used to convert arbitrary data values to {{TERM:LDIF}} format. This can be useful when writing a program or script to create the LDIF file you will feed into the {{slapadd}}(8) or {{ldapadd}}(1) program, or when writing a SHELL backend. {{ldif}}(1) takes an attribute description as an argument and reads the attribute value(s) from standard input. It produces the LDIF formatted attribute line(s) on standard output. The usage is: > ldif [-b] where {{EX:}} is an attribute description. Without the {{EX-b}} option, the {{ldif}} program will consider each line of standard input to be a separate value of the attribute. > ldif description << EOF > leading space > # leading hash mark > EOF The {{EX:-b}} option can be used to force the {{ldif}} program to interpret its input as a single raw binary value. This option is useful when converting binary data such as a {{EX:jpegPhoto}} or {{EX:audio}} attribute. For example: > ldif -b jpegPhoto < photo.jpeg !endif H2: The LDIF text entry format The {{TERM[expand]LDIF}} (LDIF) is used to represent LDAP entries in a simple text format. This section provides a brief description of the LDIF entry format which complements {{ldif}}(5) and the technical specification {{REF:RFC2849}}. The basic form of an entry is: > # comment > dn: > : > : > > ... Lines starting with a '{{EX:#}}' character are comments. An attribute description may be a simple attribute type like {{EX:cn}} or {{EX:objectClass}} or {{EX:1.2.3}} (an {{TERM:OID}} associated with an attribute type) or may include options such as {{EX:cn;lang_en_US}} or {{EX:userCertificate;binary}}. A line may be continued by starting the next line with a {{single}} space or tab character. For example: > dn: cn=Barbara J Jensen,dc=example,dc= > com > cn: Barbara J > Jensen is equivalent to: > dn: cn=Barbara J Jensen,dc=example,dc=com > cn: Barbara J Jensen Multiple attribute values are specified on separate lines. e.g., > cn: Barbara J Jensen > cn: Babs Jensen If an {{EX:}} contains non-printing characters or begins with a space, a colon ('{{EX::}}'), or a less than ('{{EX:<}}'), the {{EX:}} is followed by a double colon and the base64 encoding of the value. For example, the value "{{EX: begins with a space}}" would be encoded like this: > cn:: IGJlZ2lucyB3aXRoIGEgc3BhY2U= You can also specify a {{TERM:URL}} containing the attribute value. For example, the following specifies the {{EX:jpegPhoto}} value should be obtained from the file {{F:/path/to/file.jpeg}}. > cn:< file:///path/to/file.jpeg Multiple entries within the same LDIF file are separated by blank lines. Here's an example of an LDIF file containing three entries. > # Barbara's Entry > dn: cn=Barbara J Jensen,dc=example,dc=com > cn: Barbara J Jensen > cn: Babs Jensen > objectClass: person > sn: Jensen > > # Bjorn's Entry > dn: cn=Bjorn J Jensen,dc=example,dc=com > cn: Bjorn J Jensen > cn: Bjorn Jensen > objectClass: person > sn: Jensen > # Base64 encoded JPEG photo > jpegPhoto:: /9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAAAAAQABAAD/2wBDABALD > A4MChAODQ4SERATGCgaGBYWGDEjJR0oOjM9PDkzODdASFxOQ > ERXRTc4UG1RV19iZ2hnPk1xeXBkeFxlZ2P/2wBDARESEhgVG > > # Jennifer's Entry > dn: cn=Jennifer J Jensen,dc=example,dc=com > cn: Jennifer J Jensen > cn: Jennifer Jensen > objectClass: person > sn: Jensen > # JPEG photo from file > jpegPhoto:< file:///path/to/file.jpeg Notice that the {{EX:jpegPhoto}} in Bjorn's entry is base 64 encoded and the {{EX:jpegPhoto}} in Jennifer's entry is obtained from the location indicated by the URL. Note: Trailing spaces are not trimmed from values in an LDIF file. Nor are multiple internal spaces compressed. If you don't want them in your data, don't put them there.