





INTERNET-DRAFT                                                   S. Legg
draft-legg-ldap-admin-01.txt                         Adacel Technologies
Intended Category: Standards Track                     February 25, 2003


                 Directory Administrative Model in LDAP

    Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.

   Status of this Memo


   This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
   all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.

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   This Internet-Draft expires on 25 August 2003.


1. Abstract

   This document adapts the X.500 directory administrative model for use
   by the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol.  The administrative
   model partitions the Directory Information Tree for various aspects
   of directory data administration, e.g. subschema, access control and
   collective attributes.  The generic framework that applies to every
   aspect of administration is described in this document.  The
   definitions that apply for a specific aspect of administration, e.g.
   access control administration, are described in other documents.



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2. Table of Contents

   1. Abstract ......................................................  1
   2. Table of Contents .............................................  2
   3. Introduction ..................................................  2
   4. Conventions ...................................................  2
   5. Administrative Areas ..........................................  3
   6. Autonomous Administrative Areas ...............................  3
   7. Specific Administrative Areas .................................  3
   8. Inner Administrative Areas ....................................  4
   9. Administrative Entries ........................................  5
   10. Security Considerations ......................................  5
   11. Acknowledgements .............................................  5
   12. Normative References .........................................  5
   13. Informative References .......................................  6
   14. Copyright Notice .............................................  6
   15. Author's Address .............................................  7


3. Introduction

   This document adapts the X.500 directory administrative model [X501]
   for use by the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
   [RFC3377].  The administrative model partitions the Directory
   Information Tree (DIT) for various aspects of directory data
   administration, e.g. subschema, access control and collective
   attributes.  This document provides the definitions for the generic
   parts of the administrative model that apply to every aspect of
   directory data administration.

   Sections 5 to 9, in conjunction with [SUBENTRY], describe the means
   by which administrative authority is aportioned and exercised in the
   DIT.

   Aspects of administration that conform to the administrative model
   described in this document are detailed elsewhere, e.g.  access
   control administration is described in [ACA] and collective attribute
   administration is described in [COLLECT].

   This document is derived from, and duplicates substantial portions
   of, Sections 4 and 8 of [X501].

4. Conventions

   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 RFC 2119 [RFC2119].




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5. Administrative Areas

   An administrative area is a subtree of the DIT considered from the
   perspective of administration.  The root entry of the subtree is an
   administrative point.  An administrative point is represented by an
   entry holding an administrativeRole attribute [SUBENTRY].  The values
   of this attribute identify the kind of administrative point.


6. Autonomous Administrative Areas

   The DIT may be partitioned into one or more non-overlapping subtrees
   termed autonomous administrative areas.  It is expected that the
   entries in an autonomous administrative area are all administered by
   the same administrative authority.

   An administrative authority may be responsible for several autonomous
   administrative areas in separated parts of the DIT but it SHOULD NOT
   arbitrarily partition the collection of entries under its control
   into autonomous administrative areas (thus creating adjacent
   autonomous areas administered by the same authority).

   The root entry of an autonomous administrative area's subtree is
   called an autonomous administrative point.  An autonomous
   administrative area extends from its autonomous administrative point
   downwards until another autonomous administrative point is
   encountered, at which point another autonomous administrative area
   begins.


7. Specific Administrative Areas

   Entries in an administrative area may be considered in terms of a
   specific administrative function.  When viewed in this context, an
   administrative area is termed a specific administrative area.

   Examples of specific administrative areas are subschema specific
   administrative areas, access control specific areas and collective
   attribute specific areas.

   An autonomous administrative area may be considered as implicitly
   defining a single specific administrative area for each specific
   aspect of administration.  In this case, there is a precise
   correspondence between each such specific administrative area and the
   autonomous administrative area.

   Alternatively, for each specific aspect of administration, the
   autonomous administrative area may be partitioned into



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   non-overlapping specific administrative areas.

   If so partitioned for a particular aspect of administration, each
   entry of the autonomous administrative area is contained in one and
   only one specific administrative area for that aspect, i.e. specific
   administrative areas do not overlap.

   The root entry of a specific administrative area's subtree is called
   a specific administrative point.  A specific administrative area
   extends from its specific administrative point downwards until
   another specific administrative point of the same administrative
   aspect is encountered, at which point another specific administrative
   area begins.  Specific administrative areas are always bounded by the
   autonomous administrative area they partition.

   Where an autonomous administrative area is not partitioned for a
   specific aspect of administration, the specific administrative area
   for that aspect coincides with the autonomous administrative area.
   In this case, the autonomous administrative point is also the
   specific administrative point for this aspect of administration.  A
   particular administrative point may be the root of an autonomous
   administrative area and may be the root of one or more specific
   administrative areas for different aspects of administration.

   It is not necessary for an administrative point to represent each
   specific aspect of administrative authority.  For example, there
   might be an administrative point, subordinate to the root of the
   autonomous administrative area, which is used for access control
   purposes only.


8. Inner Administrative Areas

   For some aspects of administration, e.g. access control or collective
   attributes, inner administrative areas may be defined within the
   specific administrative areas, to allow a limited form of delegation,
   or for administrative or operational convenience.

   An inner administrative area may be nested within another inner
   administrative area.  The rules for nested inner areas are defined as
   part of the definition of the specific administrative aspect for
   which they are allowed.

   The root entry of an inner administrative area's subtree is called an
   inner administrative point.  An inner administrative area (within a
   specific administrative area) extends from its inner administrative
   point downwards until a specific administrative point of the same
   administrative aspect is encountered.  An inner administrative area



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   is bounded by the specific administrative area within which it is
   defined.


9. Administrative Entries

   An entry located at an administrative point is an administrative
   entry.  Administrative entries MAY have subentries [SUBENTRY] as
   immediate subordinates.  The administrative entry and its associated
   subentries are used to control the entries encompassed by the
   associated administrative area.  Where inner administrative areas are
   used, the scopes of these areas may overlap.  Therefore, for each
   specific aspect of administrative authority, a definition is required
   of the method of combination of administrative information when it is
   possible for entries to be included in more than one subtree or
   subtree refinement associated with an inner area defined for that
   aspect.


10. Security Considerations

   This document defines a generic framework for employing policy of
   various kinds, e.g. access controls, to entries in the DIT.  Such
   policy can only be correctly enforced at a directory server holding a
   replica of a portion of the DIT if the administrative entries for
   administrative areas that overlap the portion of the DIT being
   replicated, and the subentries of those administrative entries
   relevant to any aspect of policy that is required to be enforced at
   the replica, are included in the replicated information.

   Administrative entries and subentries SHOULD be protected from
   unauthorized examination or changes by appropriate access controls.


11. Acknowledgements

   This document is derived from, and duplicates substantial portions
   of, Sections 4 and 8 of [X501].


12. Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC3377]  Hodges, J. and R. Morgan, "Lightweight Directory Access
              Protocol (v3): Technical Specification", RFC 3377,
              September 2002.



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   [SUBENTRY] Zeilenga, K. and S. Legg, "Subentries in LDAP",
              draft-zeilenga-ldap-subentry-xx.txt, a work in progress,
              August 2002.


13. Informative References

   [ACA]      Legg, S., "Access Control Administration in LDAP",
              draft-legg-ldap-acm-admin-xx.txt, a work in progress,
              February 2003.

   [COLLECT]  Zeilenga, K., "Collective Attributes in LDAP",
              draft-zeilenga-ldap-collective-xx.txt, a work in progress,
              August 2002.

   [X501]     ITU-T Recommendation X.501 (02/2001), Information
              technology - Open Systems Interconnection - The Directory:
              Models


14. Copyright Notice

      Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.

   This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
   others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
   or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
   and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
   kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
   included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
   document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
   the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
   Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
   developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
   copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
   followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
   English.

   The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
   revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

   This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
   TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
   BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
   HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
   MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.




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15. Author's Address

   Steven Legg
   Adacel Technologies Ltd.
   250 Bay Street
   Brighton, Victoria 3186
   AUSTRALIA

   Phone: +61 3 8530 7710
     Fax: +61 3 8530 7888
   EMail: steven.legg@adacel.com.au


Appendix A - Changes From Previous Drafts

A.1 Changes in Draft 00

   This document reproduces Section 4 from
   draft-legg-ldap-acm-admin-00.txt as a standalone document.  All
   changes made are purely editorial.  No technical changes have been
   introduced.

A.2 Changes in Draft 01

   RFC 3377 replaces RFC 2251 as the reference for LDAP.


























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