Installation

For ldap server:

# yum install openldap openldap-servers

For ldap client:

# yum install openldap-clients

Configuration

Server configuration

The server configuration file is in  /etc/openldap/slapd.conf. References:

• man slapd.conf
• OpenLDAP 2.4 Administrator's Guide: The slapd Configuration File
• Red Hat LDAP Linux HOWTO: Configuration File Format

If you get the following error upon starting the ldap server, you can do so by copying /etc/openldap/DB_CONFIG.example to /var/lib/ldap/DB_CONFIG:

# /etc/init.d/ldap start
Checking configuration files for slapd:  bdb_db_open: Warning - No DB_CONFIG file found in directory /var/lib/ldap: (2)
Expect poor performance for suffix dc=example,dc=com.
config file testing succeeded

To fix the above error, start with the following:

# cp /etc/openldap/DB_CONFIG.example to /var/lib/ldap/DB_CONFIG

To start the LDAP server, run

# /etc/init.d/ldap start

And add it to auto start:

# chkconfig --add ldap

To switch to slapd.d from slapd.conf:

# cd /etc/openldap
# mkdir slapd.d
# /usr/sbin/slapindex -f /etc/openldap/slapd.conf -F /etc/openldap/slapd.d

# slaptest -f /etc/openldap/slapd.conf -F /etc/openldap/slapd.d

client configuration

The client configuration file is in  /etc/openldap/lapd.conf. References:

• man lapd.conf

References

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4: Reference Guide - Chapter 13. Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)

• Home of the OpenLDAP Project. This website contains a wealth of information about configuring OpenLDAP as well as a future roadmap and version changes.

• OpenLDAP Admin Guide

• LDAP for Rocket Scientists

• http://www.redhat.com/mirrors/LDP/HOWTO/LDAP-HOWTO.html — A comprehensive, relevant, and updated LDAP HOWTO.

• http://www.padl.com/ — Developers of nss_ldap and pam_ldap, among other useful LDAP tools.

• http://www.kingsmountain.com/ldapRoadmap.shtml — Jeff Hodges' LDAP Road Map contains links to several useful FAQs and emerging news concerning the LDAP protocol.

• http://www.newarchitectmag.com/archives/2000/05/wilcox/ — A useful look at managing groups in LDAP.

• http://www.ldapman.org/articles/ — Articles that offer a good introduction to LDAP, including methods to design a directory tree and customizing directory structures.