MACROMEDIA COLDFUSION MX 61-DEVELOPING COLDFUSION MX, Develop Manual

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480 Chapter 23: Managing LDAP Directories
Entry
The basic information object of LDAP is the entry . An entry is composed of one or more
attributes . Entries are subject to content rules defined by the directory schema (see “Schema”
on page 481 ).
Each node, not just the terminal nodes, of an LDAP directory is an entry. In the preceding
figures, each item is an entry. For example, in the first diagram, both USA and Ferrari are entries.
The USA entry’s attributes could include a Language attribute, and the Ferrari entry could
include an entry for the chief executive officer.
Attribute
An LDAP directory entry consists of one or more attributes. Attributes have types and values . The
type determines the information that the values can contain. The type also specifies how the value
is processed. For example, the type determines whether an attribute can have multiple values. The
mail attribute type, which contains an e-mail address, is multivalued so you can store multiple e-
mail addresses for one person.
Some commonly-used attribute types have short keyword type names. Often these correspond to
longer type names, and the two names can be used interchangeably. The following table lists
common attribute type keywords used in LDAP directories:
At the time this chapter was written, Netscape provided a list of standard Attribute names on its
website, at:
http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/directory/schema2/41/contents.htm
For more information, see “Attribute type” on page 482 .
Distinguished name (DN)
An entry’s distinguished name uniquely identifies it in the directory. A DN is made up of relative
distinguished names (RDNs). An RDN identifies the entry among the children of its parent entry.
For example, in the first figure in “About LDAP” , the RDN for the Ferrari entry is “o=Ferrari”.
Keyword Long name Comment
c CountryName
st stateOrProvinceName
l LocalityName typically, city, but can be any geographical unit
street StreetAddress
o OrganizationName
ou OrganizationalUnitName
cn CommonName typically, first and last name
sn SurName
dc domaincomponent
mail mail e-mail address