1SLAPD-RELAY(5)                File Formats Manual               SLAPD-RELAY(5)
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NAME

6       slapd-relay - relay backend to slapd
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SYNOPSIS

9       /etc/openldap/slapd.conf
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DESCRIPTION

12       The primary purpose of this slapd(8) backend is to map a naming context
13       defined in a database running in the same slapd(8) instance into a vir‐
14       tual  naming  context, with attributeType and objectClass manipulation,
15       if required.  It requires the slapo-rwm(5) overlay.
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17       This backend and the above mentioned overlay are experimental.
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CONFIGURATION

20       The following slapd.conf directives apply to the  relay  backend  data‐
21       base.   That  is, they must follow a "database relay" line and come be‐
22       fore any subsequent "backend" or "database" lines.  Other database  op‐
23       tions  are  described in the slapd.conf(5) manual page; only the suffix
24       directive is allowed by the relay backend.
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26       relay <real naming context>
27              The naming context of the database that  is  presented  under  a
28              virtual  naming context.  The presence of this directive implies
29              that one specific database, i.e. the one serving the real naming
30              context, will be presented under a virtual naming context.
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32

MASSAGING

34       The relay database does not automatically rewrite the naming context of
35       requests and responses.  For this  purpose,  the  slapo-rwm(5)  overlay
36       must  be  explicitly instantiated, and configured as appropriate.  Usu‐
37       ally, the rwm-suffixmassage directive suffices if only  naming  context
38       rewriting is required.
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40

ACCESS RULES

42       One important issue is that access rules are based on the identity that
43       issued the operation.  After massaging from the  virtual  to  the  real
44       naming  context,  the  frontend  sees the operation as performed by the
45       identity in the real naming context.  Moreover,  since  back-relay  by‐
46       passes the real database frontend operations by short-circuiting opera‐
47       tions through the internal backend API, the  original  database  access
48       rules  do not apply but in selected cases, i.e. when the backend itself
49       applies access control.  As a consequence, the instances of  the  relay
50       database  must  provide own access rules that are consistent with those
51       of the original database, possibly  adding  further  specific  restric‐
52       tions.  So, access rules in the relay database must refer to identities
53       in the real naming context.  Examples are reported in the EXAMPLES sec‐
54       tion.
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56

SCENARIOS

58       If  no  relay  directive is given, the relay database does not refer to
59       any specific database, but the most appropriate one is looked-up  after
60       rewriting the request DN for the operation that is being handled.
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62       This  allows  one  to  write carefully crafted rewrite rules that cause
63       some of the requests to be directed to one database, and  some  to  an‐
64       other; e.g., authentication can be mapped to one database, and searches
65       to another, or different target databases can be selected based on  the
66       DN of the request, and so.
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68       Another possibility is to map the same operation to different databases
69       based on details of the virtual naming  context,  e.g.  groups  on  one
70       database and persons on another.
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EXAMPLES

73       To  implement  a  plain virtual naming context mapping that refers to a
74       single database, use
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76         database                relay
77         suffix                  "dc=virtual,dc=naming,dc=context"
78         relay                   "dc=real,dc=naming,dc=context"
79         overlay                 rwm
80         rwm-suffixmassage       "dc=real,dc=naming,dc=context"
81
82       To implement a plain virtual naming context mapping that looks  up  the
83       real naming context for each operation, use
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85         database                relay
86         suffix                  "dc=virtual,dc=naming,dc=context"
87         overlay                 rwm
88         rwm-suffixmassage       "dc=real,dc=naming,dc=context"
89
90       This  is  useful, for instance, to relay different databases that share
91       the terminal portion of the naming context (the one that is rewritten).
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93       To implement the old-fashioned suffixalias, e.g. mapping the virtual to
94       the  real naming context, but not the results back from the real to the
95       virtual naming context, use
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97         database                relay
98         suffix                  "dc=virtual,dc=naming,dc=context"
99         relay                   "dc=real,dc=naming,dc=context"
100         overlay                 rwm
101         rwm-rewriteEngine       on
102         rwm-rewriteContext      default
103         rwm-rewriteRule         "dc=virtual,dc=naming,dc=context"
104                                 "dc=real,dc=naming,dc=context" ":@"
105         rwm-rewriteContext      searchFilter
106         rwm-rewriteContext      searchEntryDN
107         rwm-rewriteContext      searchAttrDN
108         rwm-rewriteContext      matchedDN
109
110       Note that the slapo-rwm(5) overlay is  instantiated,  but  the  rewrite
111       rules  are  written  explicitly,  rather than automatically as with the
112       rwm-suffixmassage statement, to map all the virtual to real naming con‐
113       text data flow, but none of the real to virtual.
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115       Access rules:
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117         database                mdb
118         suffix                  "dc=example,dc=com"
119         # skip...
120         access to dn.subtree="dc=example,dc=com"
121                 by dn.exact="cn=Supervisor,dc=example,dc=com" write
122                 by * read
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124         database                relay
125         suffix                  "o=Example,c=US"
126         relay                   "dc=example,dc=com"
127         overlay                 rwm
128         rwm-suffixmassage       "dc=example,dc=com"
129         # skip ...
130         access to dn.subtree="o=Example,c=US"
131                 by dn.exact="cn=Supervisor,dc=example,dc=com" write
132                 by dn.exact="cn=Relay Supervisor,dc=example,dc=com" write
133                 by * read
134
135       Note  that, in both databases, the identities (the <who> clause) are in
136       the real naming context, i.e.  `dc=example,dc=com', while  the  targets
137       (the  <what> clause) are in the real and in the virtual naming context,
138       respectively.
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ACCESS CONTROL

141       The relay backend does not honor any of the  access  control  semantics
142       described  in  slapd.access(5);  all access control is delegated to the
143       relayed database(s).  Only read (=r) access to the entry  pseudo-attri‐
144       bute  and  to the other attribute values of the entries returned by the
145       search operation is honored, which is performed by the frontend.
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FILES

148       /etc/openldap/slapd.conf
149              default slapd configuration file
150

SEE ALSO

152       slapd.conf(5), slapd-config(5), slapo-rwm(5), slapd(8).
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156OpenLDAP 2.6.6                    2023/07/31                    SLAPD-RELAY(5)
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