Netscape NETSCAPE DIRECTORY SERVER 6.02 User manual

Plug-In Programmer’s Guide

Netscape Directory Server

Version6.02

May 2002

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3

Contents

Preface .......................................................................11

WhatYouShouldAlreadyKnow......................................................... 11

UsingDirectoryServerPlug-InAPIs...................................................... 11

DocumentConventions ................................................................. 13

WheretoFindDirectoryServerInformation ............................................... 14

Part 1 Introduction to Directory Server Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . ...................... 17

Chapter 1 AnOverviewofDirectoryServerPlug-Ins................................19

WhatAreDirectoryServerPlug-Ins? ..................................................... 19

HowDirectoryServerPlug-InsWork ..................................................... 20

CallingDirectoryServerPlug-InFunctions ............................................. 21

TheDirectoryServerArchitecture ..................................................... 21

TypesofDirectoryServerPlug-Ins ....................................................... 24

Chapter 2 Writing and Compiling Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

WritingaPlug-InFunction .............................................................. 27

IncludingtheAPIHeaderFile......................................................... 28

PassingDatawithParameterBlocks ................................................... 28

WorkingwithParameterBlocks ....................................................... 29

GettingDatafromtheParameterBlock .............................................. 29

SettingDataintheParameterBlock ................................................. 30

CallingFront-EndFunctions .......................................................... 31

Plug-inReturnValues................................................................ 31

WritingPlug-inInitializationFunctions ................................................... 32

InitializationFunctionsforWindowsPlatforms ....................................... 32

SpecifyingDirectoryServerCompatibility .............................................. 33

SpecifyingInformationAboutthePlug-In .............................................. 33

4 Netscape Directory Server Plug-In Programmer’s Guide • May 2002

RegisteringYourPlug-InFunctions .................................................... 34

ReturningaValuetotheDirectoryServer............................................... 35

ExampleofanInitializationFunction .................................................. 35

CompilingaDirectoryServerPlug-In..................................................... 36

Chapter 3 Configuring Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

CreatingaPlug-InConfigurationFile ..................................................... 39

Plug-InDependencies................................................................ 41

SpecificPlug-inDependencies ...................................................... 41

Plug-InTypeDependencies ........................................................ 42

SpecifyingtheOrderofPlug-InDirectives .............................................. 42

SummaryofPlug-InDirectives........................................................ 43

LoadingthePlug-InConfigurationFile ................................................... 44

PassingExtraArgumentstoPlug-Ins ..................................................... 45

SettingtheLogLeveloftheServer........................................................ 46

Chapter 4 AQuickExample ................................................... 47

AnExamplePre-OperationPlug-In....................................................... 47

WritingthePlug-InExample.......................................................... 48

Compiling the Plug-In Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

RegisteringthePlug-InExample....................................................... 52

RunningthePlug-InExample ......................................................... 53

Part 2 BasicPlug-InProgrammingTechniques ..................................55

Chapter 5 Front-End API Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

LoggingMessages...................................................................... 58

AddingNotestoAccessLogEntries ...................................................... 58

SendingDatatotheClient............................................................... 59

DeterminingifanOperationWasAbandoned ............................................. 59

WorkingwithEntries,Attributes,andValues .............................................. 60

CreatingaNewEntry ................................................................ 61

ConvertingBetweenEntriesandStrings ................................................ 61

GettingandSettingtheDNofanEntry................................................. 62

VerifyingCompliancewiththeSchema................................................. 62

GettingtheAttributesandValuesofanEntry ........................................... 63

IteratingThroughtheAttributesinanEntry.......................................... 63

FindingaSpecificAttributeinanEntry .............................................. 63

Adding and Removing Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

WorkingwithDNsandRDNs ........................................................... 64

DeterminingifaDNistheRootDN ................................................... 64

5

WorkingwithDNSuffixes............................................................ 65

ServerSuffixes ................................................................... 65

GettingtheParentDNofaDN ........................................................ 65

NormalizingaDN................................................................... 65

WorkingwithSearchFilters ............................................................. 66

DeterminingifanEntryMatchesaFilter................................................ 67

GettingtheFilterType ............................................................... 67

GettingtheSearchCriteria............................................................ 68

ConvertingaStringtoaFilter ......................................................... 69

CreatingComplexFiltersbyCombiningFilters.......................................... 69

CheckingPasswords.................................................................... 69

Chapter 6 WritingPre/Post-OperationPlug-Ins ....................................71

HowPre/Post-OperationPlug-InsWork .................................................. 71

TypesPre-OperationandPost-OperationFunctions ........................................ 73

TypesofPre-OperationFunctions ..................................................... 73

TypesofPost-OperationFunctions..................................................... 74

RegisteringPre/Post-OperationFunctions................................................. 76

Chapter 7 Defining Functions for LDAP Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

SpecifyingStartandCloseFunctions...................................................... 78

ProcessinganLDAPBindOperation...................................................... 78

DefiningFunctionsfortheBindOperation.............................................. 78

GettingandSettingParametersfortheBindOperation ................................... 79

ProcessinganLDAPUnbindOperation ................................................... 79

ProcessinganLDAPSearchOperation .................................................... 80

Getting the List of Candidates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

IteratingThroughCandidates ......................................................... 82

ProcessinganLDAPCompareOperation.................................................. 84

ProcessinganLDAPAddOperation...................................................... 84

ProcessinganLDAPModifyOperation ................................................... 86

ProcessinganLDAPModifyRDNOperation .............................................. 87

ProcessinganLDAPDeleteOperation .................................................... 89

ProcessinganLDAPAbandonOperation ................................................. 89

Chapter 8 Defining Functions for Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

UnderstandingAuthenticationMethods .................................................. 91

HowtheDirectoryServerIdentifiesClients................................................ 92

HowtheAuthenticationProcessWorks ................................................... 92

WritingYourOwnAuthenticationPlug-in ................................................ 95

WritingaPre-OperationBindPlug-in..................................................... 95

DefiningYourAuthenticationFunction ................................................ 97

6 Netscape Directory Server Plug-In Programmer’s Guide • May 2002

GettingandCheckingtheBindParameters........................................... 97

GettingtheEntryandCheckingtheCredentials....................................... 98

WhattoDoIfAuthenticationFails .................................................. 99

WhattoDoIfAuthenticationSucceeds .............................................. 99

RegisteringtheSASLMechanism..................................................... 100

ExampleofaPre-OperationBindPlug-In .............................................. 101

ExampleofaPre-OperationBindFunction .......................................... 101

ExampleofanInitializationFunction ............................................... 104

RegisteringthePlug-In ........................................................... 105

Using SASL with an LDAP Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Part 3 AdvancedProgrammingTechniques ....................................111

Chapter 9 WritingEntryStore/FetchPlug-Ins.................................... 113

HowEntryStore/FetchPlug-InsWork................................................... 113

WritingEntryStore/FetchFunctions .................................................... 114

RegisteringEntryStore/FetchFunctions ................................................. 115

Chapter 10 WritingExtendedOperationPlug-Ins................................. 117

HowExtendedOperationPlug-InsWork................................................. 117

WritingExtendedOperationFunctions .................................................. 118

RegisteringExtendedOperationFunctions ............................................... 119

SpecifyingStartandCloseFunctions..................................................... 121

Chapter 11 WritingMatchingRulePlug-Ins ..................................... 123

UnderstandingMatchingRules ......................................................... 123

ExtensibleMatchFilters ............................................................. 124

ExtensibleMatchFiltersintheDirectoryServer ........................................ 125

UnderstandingMatchingRulePlug-Ins .................................................. 125

FunctionsDefinedinMatchingRulePlug-Ins .......................................... 125

HowMatchingRulesAreIdentified................................................... 126

HowtheServerAssociatesPlug-InswithOIDs ......................................... 127

FindingaPlug-InforIndexing..................................................... 127

FindingaPlug-InforSearching .................................................... 128

HowtheServerUsesParameterBlocks ................................................ 129

IndexingBasedonMatchingRules ...................................................... 129

HowtheServerSetsUptheIndex .................................................... 129

HowtheServerUpdatestheIndex.................................................... 130

WritingtheIndexerFactoryFunction ................................................. 131

GettingandSettingParametersinIndexerFactoryFunctions............................. 132

WritingtheIndexerFunction ........................................................ 133

7

GettingandSettingParametersinIndexerFunctions .................................... 134

HandlingExtensibleMatchFilters....................................................... 134

HowtheServerHandlestheFilter .................................................... 135

QueryOperatorsinMatchingRules................................................... 136

WritingaFilterFactoryFunction ..................................................... 137

GettingandSettingParametersinFilterFactoryFunctions ............................... 138

WritingaFilterIndexFunction....................................................... 139

GettingandSettingParametersinFilterIndexFunctions ................................ 140

WritingaFilterMatchingFunction ................................................... 141

HandlingSortingbyMatchingRules .................................................... 142

WritingaDestructorFunction .......................................................... 143

WritinganInitializationFunction ....................................................... 143

RegisteringMatchingRuleFunctions .................................................... 145

SpecifyingStartandCloseFunctions..................................................... 146

Chapter 12 Using the Custom Distribution Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

AboutDistributingFlatNamespaces..................................................... 147

CreatingaDistributionFunction ........................................................ 148

AddingtheDistributionFunctiontoYourDirectory ....................................... 150

Adding Multiple Databases to a Single Suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

UsingtheConsole ............................................................... 151

FromtheCommand-Line ......................................................... 151

Adding Distribution Logic to a Suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

UsingtheConsole ............................................................... 152

FromtheCommand-Line ......................................................... 152

UsingtheDistributionLogicExamples................................................... 153

CustomDistributionChecklist .......................................................... 154

Part 4 Reference .......................................................... 155

Chapter 13 DataTypeandStructureReference...................................157

SummaryofDataTypesandStructures .................................................. 157

Chapter 14 FunctionReference ................................................175

DistributionRoutines.................................................................. 176

FunctionsforAccessControl ........................................................... 177

FunctionsforInternalOperationsandPlug-InCallback .................................... 184

FunctionsforSettingInternalOperationFlags ............................................ 192

FunctionsforHandlingAttributes....................................................... 203

FunctionsforManagingBackendOperations ............................................. 222

FunctionsforDealingwithControls ..................................................... 239

8 Netscape Directory Server Plug-In Programmer’s Guide • May 2002

FunctionsforSyntaxPlug-In............................................................ 246

FunctionsforManagingMemory........................................................ 250

FunctionsforManagingDNs ........................................................... 257

FunctionsforManagingEntries ......................................................... 265

FunctionsRelatedtoEntryFlags ........................................................ 303

FunctionsforDealingwithFilters ....................................................... 306

FunctionsSpecifictoExtendedOperation ................................................ 324

FunctionsSpecifictoBindMethods...................................................... 325

FunctionsforThread-SafeLDAPConnections ............................................ 326

FunctionsforLogging ................................................................. 329

FunctionsforHandlingMatchingRules.................................................. 332

FunctionsforLDAPModManipulation .................................................. 340

FunctionsforMonitoringOperations .................................................... 373

FunctionsforManagingParameterBlock................................................. 375

FunctionsforHandlingPasswords ...................................................... 380

FunctionsforManagingRDN........................................................... 383

FunctionsforManagingRoles .......................................................... 404

FunctionsforManagingDNs ........................................................... 405

FunctionsforSendingEntriesandResultstotheClient..................................... 429

FunctionsRelatedtoUTF-8............................................................. 434

FunctionsforHandlingValues.......................................................... 447

FunctionsforHandlingValueset ........................................................ 467

FunctionsSpecifictoVirtualAttributeService ............................................ 476

FunctionsforManagingLocksandSynchronization ....................................... 479

FunctionsforManipulatingBits......................................................... 485

FunctionsforRegisteringObjectExtensions .............................................. 489

Chapter 15 ParameterBlockReference......................................... 493

ParametersforRegisteringPlug-InFunctions ............................................. 494

Pre-Operation/DataValidationPlug-Ins .............................................. 494

Post-Operation/DataNotificationPlug-Ins ............................................ 495

ExtendedOperationPlug-Ins ........................................................ 496

MatchingRulePlug-Ins ............................................................. 497

ParametersAccessibletoAllPlug-Ins .................................................... 497

InformationAbouttheDatabase...................................................... 498

InformationAbouttheConnection.................................................... 499

InformationAbouttheOperation..................................................... 500

NotesintheAccessLog ............................................................. 501

InformationAboutthePlug-In ....................................................... 502

TypesofPlug-Ins ................................................................ 503

VersionInformation.............................................................. 503

ParametersfortheConfigurationFunction ............................................... 504

ParametersfortheBindFunction........................................................ 504

9

ParametersfortheSearchFunction ...................................................... 505

ParametersfortheAddFunction........................................................ 507

ParametersfortheCompareFunction.................................................... 508

ParametersfortheDeleteFunction ...................................................... 508

ParametersfortheModifyFunction ..................................................... 509

ParametersfortheModifyRDNFunction ................................................ 510

ParametersfortheAbandonFunction.................................................... 511

ParametersforExtendedOperations..................................................... 511

ParametersforInternalLDAPOperations ................................................ 512

Glossary.....................................................................513

Index........................................................................517

10 Netscape Directory Server Plug-In Programmer’s Guide • May 2002

11

Preface

This book describes how to write server plug-ins in order to customize and extend

the capabilities of the Netscape Directory Server (Directory Server).

• What You Should Already Know

• Using Directory Server Plug-In APIs

• Document Conventions

• Where to Find Directory Server Information

What You Should Already Know

This book assumes you have this basic background:

• A general understanding of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW).

• A general understanding of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)

and the Directory Server. This book does not duplicate basic information on

server administration or LDAP concepts. For such information, refer to the

documents listed in “Where to Find Directory Server Information,” on page 14.

• Programming experience in C or C++.

Using Directory Server Plug-In APIs

Note the following:

• When you install Directory Server, the plug-in related files are placed in this

directory: <server_root>/plugins/slapd/slapi/

Using Directory Server Plug-In APIs

12 Netscape Directory Server Plug-In Programmer’s Guide • May 2002

• The main header file is located here:

<server_root>/plugins/slapd/slapi/include/slapi-plugin.h

• The location and syntax for the plug-in directives have changed. In the

Directory Server 4.x release, the plugin directives were in the database section

of the slapd.ldbm.conf file. In this release of Directory Server, you must add

your plugin directives to the dse.ldif file, which is located in the

<server_root>/slapd-<instance_id>/config directory. For guidelines,

refer to the Readme file located here:

<server_root>/plugins/slapd/slapi/examples/

• Database plug-ins are not supported in this version of Directory Server. Be sure

to use the pre-operation, post-operation, and/or extended operation API to

register plug-in functions. Note that some code examples in this book are yet to

be updated to reflect this change.

• To comply with Internet Protocol version 6, Directory Server plug-ins can now

use the SLAPI_CONN_CLIENTEDADDR and SLAPI_CONNSERVERADDR parameters

to allow plug-ins to recognize the IP address of the LDAP client and server.

These new parameters use the Netscape Portable Runtime (NSPR) PRNetADDr

structure for storing the IP addresses. Because of this, the NSPR files are

shipped with Directory Server.

The NSPR API allows compliant applications to use system facilities such as

threads, thread synchronization, I/O, interval timing, atomic operations, and

several other low-level services in a platform-independent manner.

• Several functions have been deprecated in this release of the Directory Server

Plug-in API. The deprecated functions are still supported for backward

compatibility. They are, however, not documented in this release. The table

below lists the deprecated functions and the functions you should use in their

place. If you need additional information on functions that have been

deprecated, check this file:

<server_root>/plugins/slapd/slapi/include/slapi-plugin-compat4.h

Table 0-1 Deprecated Functions and Their Suggested Replacements

Deprecated Function Suggested Replacement Function

The following functions that deal with bervals are deprecated and their use is not recommended. For each

deprecated function, you will find in slapi-plugin.h a corresponding function with a _sv extension that

uses Slapi_Values instead of bervals. The new functions are more efficient than the old ones.

slapi_entry_attr_merge() slapi_entry_attr_merge_sv()

slapi_entry_add_values() slapi_entry_add_values_sv()

slapi_entry_delete_values() slapi_entry_delete_values_sv()

Document Conventions

Preface 13

Document Conventions

The Directory Server runs on Windows NT and a number of different UNIX

platforms; the information here applies to all versions. File and directory paths are

given in Unix format (with forward slashes separating directory names). For

Windows versions, the directory paths are the same, except that you use

backslashes instead of slashes to separate directories.

This book uses Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) of the form

slapi_entry_attr_replace() slapi_entry_attr_replace_sv()

slapi_attr_get_values() slapi_attr_value_find()

slapi_attr_get_oid() slapi_attr_get_oid_copy()

slapi_pw_find() slapi_pw_find_sv()

slapi_call_syntax_values2keys() slapi_call_syntax_values2keys_sv()

slapi_call_syntax_assertion2keys_ava() slapi_call_syntax_assertion2keys_ava_sv()

slapi_call_syntax_assertion2keys_sub() slapi_call_syntax_assertion2keys_sub_sv()

slapi_entry_attr_hasvalue() slapi_entry_attr_has_syntax_value()

The following internal-operation calls are deprecated. The new internal operation functions that are defined

in slapi-plugin.h take a Slapi_PBlock for extensibility and support the new plug-in configuration

capabilities.

slapi_search_internal_callback() slapi_search_internal_callback_pb()

slapi_search_internal() slapi_search_internal_pb()

slapi_modify_internal() slapi_modify_internal_pb()

slapi_add_internal() slapi_add_internal_pb()

slapi_delete_internal() slapi_delete_internal_pb()

slapi_modrdn_internal() slapi_modrdn_internal_pb()

The following three functions are not multi-thread safe; they return a pointer to unprotected data. Use the

new functions in slapi-plugin.h that end in _copy() instead.

slapi_get_supported_controls() slapi_get_supported_controls_copy()

slapi_get_supported_extended_ops() slapi_get_supported_extended_ops_copy()

slapi_get_supported_saslmechanism() slapi_get_supported_saslmechanisms_copy()

Table 0-1 Deprecated Functions and Their Suggested Replacements (Continued)

Deprecated Function Suggested Replacement Function

Where to Find Directory Server Information

14 Netscape Directory Server Plug-In Programmer’s Guide • May 2002

http://

server.domain

/

path

/

file

.html

In these URLs, server represents the name of the server on which you run your

application (such as research1 or www), domain represents your Internet domain

name (such as example.com), path represents the directory structure on the server,

and

file

.html represents an individual filename.

In general, italic items in URL strings are variables and items in regular font are

literals. If your server has Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) enabled, you would use

https instead of http in the URL.

This book uses the following font conventions:

•The monospace font is used for sample code and code listings, API and

language elements (such as function names and class names), filenames,

pathnames, directory names, HTML tags, and any text that must be typed on

the screen. (

Monospace italic font

is used for placeholders embedded in

code.)

•Italic type is used for book titles, emphasis, variables and placeholders, and

words used in the literal sense.

•Boldface type is used for glossary terms.

Where to Find Directory Server Information

This book explains how to write your own server plug-ins to customize the

Directory Server. You can write plug-ins that validate data before the data is stored

in the directory, that notify users when data has changed, or that replace the

standard database in the Directory Server with your own database.

The document set for Directory Server also contains the following guides:

•Netscape Directory Server Installation Guide. Contains procedures for installing

your Directory Server as well as procedures for migrating from a previous

installation of Directory Server.

•Netscape Directory Server Deployment Guide. Contains procedures for the

day-to-day maintenance of your directory service. Includes information on

configuring server-side plug-ins.

•Netscape Directory Server Administrator’s Guide. Contains procedures for the

day-to-day maintenance of your directory service. Includes information on

configuring server-side plug-ins.

Where to Find Directory Server Information

Preface 15

•Netscape Directory Server Configuration, Command, and File Reference.Contains

information about using the command-line scripts shipped with Directory

Server.

•Netscape Directory Server Schema Reference. Contains information about the

Directory Server schema.

For a list of documentation installed with Directory Server, open the

<server_root>/manual/en/slapd/index.htm file, where <server_root> is the

directory in which you installed Directory Server.

For the latest information about Directory Server, including current release notes,

complete product documentation, technical notes, and deployment information,

checkthissite:http://enterprise.netscape.com/docs

Where to Find Directory Server Information

16 Netscape Directory Server Plug-In Programmer’s Guide • May 2002

17

Part 1

Introduction to Directory Server

Plug-Ins

Chapter 1, “An Overview of Directory Server Plug-Ins”

Chapter 2, “Writing and Compiling Plug-Ins”

Chapter 3, “Configuring Plug-Ins”

Chapter 4, “A Quick Example”

18 Netscape Directory Server Plug-In Programmer’s Guide • May 2002

19

Chapter 1

An Overview of Directory Server

Plug-Ins

This chapter introduces you to Netscape Directory Server (Directory Server)

plug-ins and discusses the different types of plug-ins that you can write. The

chapter covers the following topics:

• What Are Directory Server Plug-Ins?

• How Directory Server Plug-Ins Work

• Types of Directory Server Plug-Ins

If you have already written a plug-in for Directory Server, refer to the section

“Using Directory Server Plug-In APIs” on page 11 for information on migrating

your plug-in to the latest version of the Directory Server.

What Are Directory Server Plug-Ins?

If you want to extend the capabilities of the Directory Server, you can write your

own Directory Server plug-in. A server plug-in is a shared object or library (or on the

Windows NT platform, a dynamic link library) that contains custom functions that

you write.

By writing your own plug-in functions, you can extend the functionality of the

Directory Server. For example, here are some of the things you can do with

Directory Server plug-ins:

• You can design an action that the Directory Server performs before the server

processes an LDAP action. For example, you can write a custom function to

validate data before the server performs an LDAP operation on the data.

How Directory Server Plug-Ins Work

20 Netscape Directory Server Plug-In Programmer’s Guide • May 2002

• You can design an action that the Directory Server performs after the server

successfully completes an LDAP operation. For example, you can send mail to

a client after an LDAP operation is successfully completed.

• You can define extended operations, as defined in the the LDAP v3 protocol.

• You can provide alternate matching rules when comparing certain attribute

values.

How Directory Server Plug-Ins Work

When properly configured, the Directory Server will load your plug-in on startup.

Once loaded, the Directory Server will resolve calls made to your plug-in functions

as it processes the LDAP requests contained in your applications.

Internally, the Directory Server has hooks that allow you to register your own

functions to be called when specific events occur. For example, the Directory Server

has hooks to call a registered plug-in in the following situations:

• Before preforming an LDAP operation (for example, before an entry is added

to the directory)

• When adding, modifying, removing, renaming, or searching for entries in the

database

• After performing an LDAP operation (for example, after an entry is added to

the directory)

• Before writing an entry to the database

• After reading an entry from the database

• When processing an extended operation

• When indexing an attribute

• When filtering search result candidates based on an attribute

When you register your plug-in functions, you specify the function type and the

plug-in type. Together, these specifications indicate when the function is called. For

more information on this topic, refer to the section “Types of Directory Server

Plug-Ins” on page 24.

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