INTERNET-DRAFT Kurt D. Zeilenga
Intended Category: Standard Track Isode Limited
Expires in six months 14 February 2007
The LDAP No-Op Control
<draft-zeilenga-ldap-noop-10.txt>
Status of this Memo
This document is intended to be, after appropriate review and
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Abstract
This document defines the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
No-Op control which can be used to disable the normal effect of an
operation. The control can be used to discover how a server might
react to a particular update request without updating the directory.
1. Overview
It is often desirable to be able to determine if a directory operation
[RFC4511] would successful complete or not without having the normal
effect of the operation take place. For example, an administrative
client might want to verify that new user could update their entry
(and not other entries) without the directory actually being updated.
The mechanism could be used to build more sophisticated security
auditing tools.
This document defines the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
[RFC4510] No-Op control extension. The presence of the No-Op control
in an operation request message disables its normal effect upon the
directory which operation would otherwise have. Instead of updating
the directory and returning the normal indication of success, the
server does not update the directory and indicates so by returning the
noOperation resultCode (introduced below).
For example, when the No-Op control is present in a LDAP modify
operation [RFC4511], the server is do all processing necessary to
perform the operation without actually updating the directory. If it
detects an error during this processing, it returns a non-success
(other than noOperation) resultCode as it normally would. Otherwise,
it returns the noOperation. In either case, the directory is left
unchanged.
This No-Op control is not intended to be to an "effective access"
mechanism [RFC2820, U12].
1.1. Terminology
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 BCP 14 [RFC2119].
DN stands for Distinguished Name.
DSA stands for Directory System Agent.
DSE stands for DSA-specific entry.
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2. No-Op Control
The No-Op control is an LDAP Control [RFC4511] whose controlType is
IANA-ASSIGNED-OID and controlValue is absent. Clients MUST provide a
criticality value of TRUE to prevent unintended modification of the
directory.
The control is appropriate for request messages of LDAP Add, Delete,
Modify and ModifyDN operations [RFC4511]. The control is also
appropriate for requests of extended operations which update the
directory (or other data stores), such as Password Modify Extended
Operation [RFC3062]. There is no corresponding response control.
When the control is attached to an LDAP request, the server does all
normal processing possible for the operation without modification of
the directory. That is, when the control is attached to an LDAP
request, the directory SHALL NOT be updated and the response SHALL NOT
have a resultCode of success (0).
A result code other than noOperation (IANA-ASSIGNED-CODE) means that
the server is unable or unwilling to complete the processing for the
reason indicated by the result code. A result code of noOperation
(IANA-ASSIGNED-CODE) indicates that the server discovered no reason
why the operation would fail if submitted without the No-Op control.
It is noted that there may be reasons why the operation may fail which
are only discoverable when submitting without the No-Op control.
Servers SHOULD indicate their support for this control by providing
IANA-ASSIGNED-OID as a value of the 'supportedControl' attribute type
[RFC4512] in their root DSE entry. A server MAY choose to advertise
this extension only when the client is authorized to use this
operation.
3. Security Considerations
The No-Op control mechanism allows directory administrators and users
to verify that access control and other administrative policy controls
are properly configured. The mechanism may also lead to the
development (and deployment) of more effective security auditing
tools.
Implementors of this LDAP extension should be familiar with security
considerations applicable to the LDAP operations [RFC4511] extended by
this control, as well as general LDAP security considerations
[Roadmap].
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4. IANA Considerations
4.1. Object Identifier
It is requested that IANA assign an LDAP Object Identifier [RFC4520]
to identify the LDAP No-Op Control defined in this document.
Subject: Request for LDAP Object Identifier Registration
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Kurt Zeilenga <Kurt.Zeilenga@Isode.COM>
Specification: RFC XXXX
Author/Change Controller: IESG
Comments:
Identifies the LDAP No-Op Control
4.2 LDAP Protocol Mechanism
Registration of this protocol mechanism is requested [RFC4520].
Subject: Request for LDAP Protocol Mechanism Registration
Object Identifier: IANA-ASSIGNED-OID
Description: No-Op Control
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Kurt Zeilenga <Kurt.Zeilenga@Isode.COM>
Usage: Control
Specification: RFC XXXX
Author/Change Controller: IESG
Comments: none
4.3 LDAP Result Code
Assignment of an LDAP Result Code called 'noOperation' is requested.
Subject: LDAP Result Code Registration
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Kurt Zeilenga <Kurt.Zeilenga@Isode.COM>
Result Code Name: noOperation
Specification: RFC XXXX
Author/Change Controller: IESG
Comments: none
5. Author's Address
Kurt D. Zeilenga
Isode Limited
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Email: Kurt.Zeilenga@Isode.COM
6. References
[[Note to the RFC Editor: please replace the citation tags used in
referencing Internet-Drafts with tags of the form RFCnnnn where
possible.]]
6.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14 (also RFC 2119), March 1997.
[RFC4510] Zeilenga, K. (editor), "LDAP: Technical Specification
Road Map", RFC 4510, June 2006.
[RFC4511] Sermersheim, J. (editor), "LDAP: The Protocol", RFC
4511, June 2006.
[RFC4512] Zeilenga, K. (editor), "LDAP: Directory Information
Models", RFC 4512, June 2006.
6.2. Informative References
[X.500] International Telecommunication Union -
Telecommunication Standardization Sector, "The Directory
-- Overview of concepts, models and services,"
X.500(1993) (also ISO/IEC 9594-1:1994).
[RFC2820] Stokes, E., et. al., "Access Control Requirements for
LDAP", RFC 2820, May 2000.
[RFC3062] Zeilenga, K., "LDAP Password Modify Extended Operation",
RFC 3062, February 2000.
[RFC4520] Zeilenga, K., "Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
(IANA) Considerations for the Lightweight Directory
Access Protocol (LDAP)", RFC 4520, BCP 64, June 2006.
Intellectual Property
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