Elep

INTERNET-DRAFT                                      Kurt D. Zeilenga
Intended Category: Standard Track                      Isode Limited
Expires in six months                               14 February 2007

The LDAP No-Op Control
                    <draft-zeilenga-ldap-noop-10.txt>

Status of this Memo

This document is intended to be, after appropriate review and
  revision, submitted to the IESG for consideration as a Standard Track
  document.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.  Technical
  discussion of this document will take place on the IETF LDAP
  Extensions mailing list <ldapext@ietf.org>.  Please send editorial
  comments directly to the author <Kurt.Zeilenga@Isode.COM>.

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  applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware have
  been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes aware
  will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79.

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Please see the Full Copyright section near the end of this document
  for more information.

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Abstract

This document defines the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
  No-Op control which can be used to disable the normal effect of an
  operation.  The control can be used to discover how a server might
  react to a particular update request without updating the directory.

1.  Overview

It is often desirable to be able to determine if a directory operation
  [RFC4511] would successful complete or not without having the normal
  effect of the operation take place.  For example, an administrative
  client might want to verify that new user could update their entry
  (and not other entries) without the directory actually being updated.
  The mechanism could be used to build more sophisticated security
  auditing tools.

This document defines the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
  [RFC4510] No-Op control extension.  The presence of the No-Op control
  in an operation request message disables its normal effect upon the
  directory which operation would otherwise have.  Instead of updating
  the directory and returning the normal indication of success, the
  server does not update the directory and indicates so by returning the
  noOperation resultCode (introduced below).

For example, when the No-Op control is present in a LDAP modify
  operation [RFC4511], the server is do all processing necessary to
  perform the operation without actually updating the directory.  If it
  detects an error during this processing, it returns a non-success
  (other than noOperation) resultCode as it normally would.  Otherwise,
  it returns the noOperation.  In either case, the directory is left
  unchanged.

This No-Op control is not intended to be to an "effective access"
  mechanism [RFC2820, U12].

1.1.  Terminology

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 BCP 14 [RFC2119].

DN stands for Distinguished Name.
  DSA stands for Directory System Agent.
  DSE stands for DSA-specific entry.

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2.  No-Op Control

The No-Op control is an LDAP Control [RFC4511] whose controlType is
  IANA-ASSIGNED-OID and controlValue is absent.  Clients MUST provide a
  criticality value of TRUE to prevent unintended modification of the
  directory.

The control is appropriate for request messages of LDAP Add, Delete,
  Modify and ModifyDN operations [RFC4511].  The control is also
  appropriate for requests of extended operations which update the
  directory (or other data stores), such as Password Modify Extended
  Operation [RFC3062].  There is no corresponding response control.

When the control is attached to an LDAP request, the server does all
  normal processing possible for the operation without modification of
  the directory.  That is, when the control is attached to an LDAP
  request, the directory SHALL NOT be updated and the response SHALL NOT
  have a resultCode of success (0).

A result code other than noOperation (IANA-ASSIGNED-CODE) means that
  the server is unable or unwilling to complete the processing for the
  reason indicated by the result code.  A result code of noOperation
  (IANA-ASSIGNED-CODE) indicates that the server discovered no reason
  why the operation would fail if submitted without the No-Op control.
  It is noted that there may be reasons why the operation may fail which
  are only discoverable when submitting without the No-Op control.

Servers SHOULD indicate their support for this control by providing
  IANA-ASSIGNED-OID as a value of the 'supportedControl' attribute type
  [RFC4512] in their root DSE entry.  A server MAY choose to advertise
  this extension only when the client is authorized to use this
  operation.

3.  Security Considerations

The No-Op control mechanism allows directory administrators and users
  to verify that access control and other administrative policy controls
  are properly configured.  The mechanism may also lead to the
  development (and deployment) of more effective security auditing
  tools.

Implementors of this LDAP extension should be familiar with security
  considerations applicable to the LDAP operations [RFC4511] extended by
  this control, as well as general LDAP security considerations
  [Roadmap].

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4.  IANA Considerations

4.1.  Object Identifier

It is requested that IANA assign an LDAP Object Identifier [RFC4520]
  to identify the LDAP No-Op Control defined in this document.

Subject: Request for LDAP Object Identifier Registration
      Person & email address to contact for further information:
          Kurt Zeilenga <Kurt.Zeilenga@Isode.COM>
      Specification: RFC XXXX
      Author/Change Controller: IESG
      Comments:
          Identifies the LDAP No-Op Control

4.2  LDAP Protocol Mechanism

Registration of this protocol mechanism is requested [RFC4520].

Subject: Request for LDAP Protocol Mechanism Registration
  Object Identifier: IANA-ASSIGNED-OID
  Description: No-Op Control
  Person & email address to contact for further information:
      Kurt Zeilenga <Kurt.Zeilenga@Isode.COM>
  Usage: Control
  Specification: RFC XXXX
  Author/Change Controller: IESG
  Comments: none

4.3  LDAP Result Code

Assignment of an LDAP Result Code called 'noOperation' is requested.

Subject: LDAP Result Code Registration
      Person & email address to contact for further information:
          Kurt Zeilenga <Kurt.Zeilenga@Isode.COM>
      Result Code Name: noOperation
      Specification: RFC XXXX
      Author/Change Controller: IESG
      Comments:  none

5.  Author's Address

Kurt D. Zeilenga
  Isode Limited

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Email: Kurt.Zeilenga@Isode.COM

6. References

[[Note to the RFC Editor: please replace the citation tags used in
  referencing Internet-Drafts with tags of the form RFCnnnn where
  possible.]]

6.1. Normative References

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

[RFC4510]     Zeilenga, K. (editor), "LDAP: Technical Specification
                Road Map", RFC 4510, June 2006.

[RFC4511]     Sermersheim, J. (editor), "LDAP: The Protocol", RFC
                4511, June 2006.

[RFC4512]     Zeilenga, K. (editor), "LDAP: Directory Information
                Models", RFC 4512, June 2006.

6.2. Informative References

[X.500]       International Telecommunication Union -
                Telecommunication Standardization Sector, "The Directory
                -- Overview of concepts, models and services,"
                X.500(1993) (also ISO/IEC 9594-1:1994).

[RFC2820]     Stokes, E., et. al., "Access Control Requirements for
                LDAP", RFC 2820, May 2000.

[RFC3062]     Zeilenga, K., "LDAP Password Modify Extended Operation",
                RFC 3062, February 2000.

[RFC4520]     Zeilenga, K., "Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
                (IANA) Considerations for the Lightweight Directory
                Access Protocol (LDAP)", RFC 4520, BCP 64, June 2006.

Intellectual Property

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