Using util_ldap to retrieve attributes on a DC

[Joe Lewis <jo...@joe-lewis.com>]

I've been reviewing the archives looking for information on using 
util_ldap to retrieve attributes from an object out of an LDAP 
connection.  However, I haven't really seen any postings on it in there, 
and thought I'd try and propose the question to the list.

First, a little background.  I have a functional module for pushing 
pages through a template mechanism, parsing in menu's, etc.  I wrote it 
about three or four years ago.  Last spring, I added in a component to 
retrieve the location of where the template file is located with respect 
to the ServerName from a domain context in an LDAP source.  That works.

Here's the question, though.  Is there any way to use util_ldap to 
retrieve the attribute instead of relying completely on my own ldap 
functions?  I've looked through the util_ldap.c code, and don't really 
see any functions that would allow the retrieval of attributes from an 
object (non-user) in LDAP.  Plenty of util_ldap_getuserdn and 
util_ldap_checkuserid, but nothing for util_ldap_getdn or anything 
similar.  Is this even possible, or, should I implement all of the #if 
declarations for the proper SDK?

Joe

Re: Using util_ldap to retrieve attributes on a DC

[Joe Lewis <jo...@joe-lewis.com>]

Thanks for the response, Eric!

Eric Covener wrote:
> On 10/19/06, Joe Lewis <jo...@joe-lewis.com> wrote:
>> I've looked through the util_ldap.c code, and don't really
>> see any functions that would allow the retrieval of attributes from an
>> object (non-user) in LDAP.
> Looks to me like the cache provided by util_ldap is very
> compare-centric, so you'd have a fair amount of work teaching it to
> manage/return values returned by searches via some new interface and
> an extension of the cache.
I was just hoping there were some methods that I didn't see in the 
default util_ldap.c file.  Obviously, my eyes did not deceive me.
> I would think that the sequence of
> ldap_search/ldap_get_values/ldap_msgfree would be SDK agnostic (more
> so then the SSL freakshow that apr ldap provides a wrapper for).  You
> can see in util_ldap.c that the actual core LDAP calls aren't wrapped
> by any abstraction.
I suspected that this was true.  It's easy enough to leave well enough 
alone.  (Plus, I could almost guarantee that the resulting code will be 
shorter - and shorter = cleaner = simpler = more efficient code, unless 
you are working with Perl obfuscation.)  I'll just leave well enough 
alone (unless someone else recognizes a major need).

Joe

Re: Using util_ldap to retrieve attributes on a DC

[Eric Covener <co...@gmail.com>]

On 10/19/06, Joe Lewis <jo...@joe-lewis.com> wrote:
> I've looked through the util_ldap.c code, and don't really
> see any functions that would allow the retrieval of attributes from an
> object (non-user) in LDAP.  Plenty of util_ldap_getuserdn and
> util_ldap_checkuserid, but nothing for util_ldap_getdn or anything
> similar.

Looks to me like the cache provided by util_ldap is very
compare-centric, so you'd have a fair amount of work teaching it to
manage/return values returned by searches via some new interface and
an extension of the cache.

> Is this even possible, or, should I implement all of the #if
> declarations for the proper SDK?

I would think that the sequence of
ldap_search/ldap_get_values/ldap_msgfree would be SDK agnostic (more
so then the SSL freakshow that apr ldap provides a wrapper for).  You
can see in util_ldap.c that the actual core LDAP calls aren't wrapped
by any abstraction.

-- 
Eric Covener
covener@gmail.com