Use specific directory servers as the LDAP server

For Using MS Active Directory server as the LDAP server below, note that to use Microsoft Active Directory as the LDAP server for authentication with WAS take specific steps. By default, Microsoft Active Directory does not permit anonymous LDAP queries. To create LDAP queries or to browse the directory, an LDAP client must bind to the LDAP server using the distinguished name (DN) of an account that belongs to the administrator group of the Windows system. A group membership search in the Active Directory is done by enumerating the memberof attribute possessed by a given user entry, rather than browsing through the member list in each group. If you change this default behavior to browse each group, you can change the Group Member ID Map field from memberof:member to group:member.

Using IBM Directory Server as the LDAP server

To use IBM Directory Server, choose IBM Directory Server as the directory type. For supported directory servers, refer to the article, Supported directory services. The difference between these two types is group membership lookup. It is recommended that you choose the IBM Directory Server for optimum performance during run time. In the IBM Directory Server, the group membership is an operational attribute. With this attribute, a group membership lookup is done by enumerating the ibm-allGroups attribute for the entry, rather than selecting a group and browsing through the members list. To utilize this attribute in a security authorization application, use a case-insensitive match so that attribute values returned by the ibm-allGroups attribute are all in uppercase.

Using a Lotus Domino Server as the LDAP server

If you choose the Lotus Domino LDAP server Version 6 and the attribute short name is not defined in the schema, you can take either of the following actions...

The userID map filter has been changed to use the uid attribute instead of the shortname attribute as the current version of Lotus Domino does not create the shortname attribute by default. If you want to use the shortname attribute, define the attribute in the schema and change the userID map filter to the following... 

User ID Map :    person:shortname

Using iPlanet Directory Server as the LDAP server

You can choose the iPlanet Directory Server or Netscape for your iPlanet Directory Server system. For supported directory servers, refer to the article, Supported directory services. The difference between the two directory server types is group membership lookup. The iPlanet Directory Server directory is selected to use with the iPlanet Directory Server new grouping mechanism only. The new grouping mechanism is called roles in the iPlanet Directory Server, and the attribute is nsRole.

Roles unify entries. Roles are designed to be more efficient and easier to use for applications. For example, an application can locate the role of an entry by enumerating all the roles possessed by a given entry, rather than selecting a group and browsing through the members list. With the iPlanet Directory Server directory, WAS security supports groups defined by nsRole only. If you plan to use traditional grouping methods to group entries in the iPlanet Directory Server, select NetScape as the directory type.

Using Sun ONE Directory Server as the LDAP server

You can choose Sun ONE Directory Server for your Sun ONE Directory Server system. For supported directory servers, refer to the article, Supported directory services. In Sun ONE Directory Server, the default object class is groupOfUniqueName when you create a group. For better performance, WAS uses the user object to locate the user group membership from the nsRole attribute. Thus, create the group from the role. If you want to use groupOfUniqueName to search groups, specify your own filter setting. Roles unify entries. Roles are designed to be more efficient and easier to use for applications. For example, an application can locate the role of an entry by enumerating all the roles possessed by a given entry, rather than selecting a group and browsing through the members list.

Using Microsoft Active Directory server as the LDAP server

To set up Microsoft Active Directory as your LDAP server, complete the following steps.

  1. Determine the full DN and password of an account in the administrators group. For example, if the Active Directory administrator creates an account in the Users folder of the Active Directory Users and Computers Windows NT or Windows 2000 systems control panel and the DNS domain is ibm.com, the resulting DN has the following structure: 

    cn=<adminUsername>, cn=users, dc=ibm, 
dc=com

  2. Determine the short name and password of any account in the Microsoft Active Directory.This password does not have to be the same account that is used in the previous step.

  3. Use the WAS administrative console to set up the information needed to use Microsoft Active Directory...

    1. Start the administrative server for the domain, if necessary.

    2. On the administrative console, click Security on the left navigation panel.

    3. Click the Authentication mechanisms tabbed page. Select Lightweight Third Party Authentication (LTPA) as the authentication mechanism.

    4. Enter the following information in the LDAP settings fields...

      • Security Server ID: The short name of the account chosen in 2

      • Security Server Password: The password of the account chosen in step 2

      • Directory Type: Active Directory

      • Host: The domain name service (DNS) name of the machine running Microsoft Active Directory

      • Base Distinguished Name: The domain components of the DN of the account chosen in step 1. For example: dc=ibm, dc=com Bind

      • Distinguished Name: The full DN of the account chosen in step 1. For example: cn=<adminUsername>, cn=users, dc=ibm, dc=com

      • Bind Password: The password of the account chosen in step 1

    5. Click OK to save the changes.

    6. Stop and restart the administrative server so that the changes take effect.

 

See Also

LDAP
LDAP advanced settings
LDAP settings