Table 3-1 Syntaxes support in Directory Server

Syntax

Description

Binary

Indicates that values for this attribute are binary.

 

 

Boolean

Indicates that this attribute has one of only two values, true or false.

 

 

Country String

Indicates that values for this attribute are limited to exactly two printable string

 

characters; for example, US for the United States.

 

 

DN

Indicates that values for this attribute are DNs.

 

 

DirectoryString

Indicates that values for this attribute are case-insensitive strings.

 

 

GeneralizedTime

Indicates that values for this attribute are encoded as printable strings. The time zone

 

must be specified. It is strongly recommended to use GMT time.

 

 

IA5String

Indicates that values for this attribute are case-exact strings.

 

 

Integer

Indicates that valid values for this attribute are numbers.

 

 

OctetString

Indicates that values for this attribute are binary; this is the same as using the binary

 

syntax.

 

 

Postal Address

Indicates that values for this attribute are encoded in the format postal-address

 

=dstring* ("$"dstring). For example:

 

1234 Main St.$Raleigh, NC

 

12345$USA

 

 

TelephoneNumber

Indicates that values for this attribute are in the form of telephone numbers. It is

 

recommended to use telephone numbers in international form.

 

 

URI

Indicates that the values for this attribute are in the form of a URL, introduced by a

 

string such as http://. The URI has the same behavior as IA5String. See RFC 2396

 

for more information on this syntax.

 

 

3.2.3 Standard object classes

Object classes are used to group related information. Typically, an object class represents a real object, such as a person or a fax machine. Before it is possible to use an object class and its attributes in the directory, it must be identified in the schema. The directory recognizes a standard list of object classes by default; these are listed and described in the Directory Server Schema Reference.

Each directory entry belongs to at least one object classes. Placing an object class identified in the schema on an entry tells the Directory Server that the entry can have a certain set of possible attribute values and must have another, usually smaller, set of required attribute values.

Object class definitions contain the following information:

•A unique name.

•An object identifier (OID) that names the object.•A set of mandatory attributes.•A set of allowed (or optional) attributes.

For example, the standard person object class appears in the schema as follows:

objectclasses: ( 2.5.6.6 NAME 'person' DESC 'Standard Person Object Class' SUP top

MUST (objectclass $ sn $ cn) MAY (description $ seeAlso $ tele\ phoneNumber $ userPassword)

X-ORIGIN 'RFC 2252' )

As is the case for all the Directory Server's schema, object classes are defined and stored directly in Directory Server. This means that the directory's schema can be both queried and changed with standard LDAP operations.

3.2 Standard schema

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