Use specific directory servers as the LDAP server

 

Before you begin

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, one can change the Group Member ID Map field from memberof:member to group:member.

 

Overview

Using IBM Tivoli Directory Server as the LDAP server

To use IBM Tivoli Directory Server (formerly IBM Directory Server), choose IBM Tivoli 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 Tivoli Directory Server for optimum performance during run time. In the IBM Tivoli 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, All group memberships, including the static groups, dynamic groups, and nested groups, can be returned with the ibm-allGroups attribute. WebSphere Application Server supports dynamic groups, nested groups, and static groups in IBM Tivoli Directory Server using the ibm-allGroups attribute. 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.

Important: It is recommended that you do not install IBM Tivoli Directory Server V5.2 on the same machine that you install WAS v6.x. IBM Tivoli Directory Server V5.2 includes WAS Express v6.x, which the directory server uses for its administrative console. Install the Web Administration tool V5.2 and WebSphere Application Server Express v6.x, which are both bundled with IBM Tivoli Directory Server V5.2, on a different machine from WebSphere Application Server v6.x. We cannot use WAS v6.x as the administrative console for IBM Tivoli Directory Server. If IBM Tivoli Directory Server V5.2 and WAS v6.x are installed on the same machine, you might encounter port conflicts.

If install IBM Tivoli Directory Server V5.2 and WebSphere Application Server v6.x on the same machine, consider the following information:

  • During the IBM Tivoli Directory Server installation process, select both the Web Administration tool and WebSphere Application Server Express v6.x.

  • Install WebSphere Application Server, v6.x.

  • When you install WAS v6.x, change the port number for the application server.

  • You might need to adjust the WAS environment variables on WAS V6 for WAS_HOME and WAS_INSTALL_ROOT. To change the variables using the administrative console, click Environment > WebSphere Variables.

Using a Lotus Domino Enterprise Server as the LDAP server

If you choose the Lotus Domino Enterprise Server v6.3 or V6.5.1 and the attribute short name is not defined in the schema, one can take either of the following actions:

  • Change the schema to add the short name attribute.

  • Change the user ID map filter to replace the short name with any other defined attribute (preferably to UID). For example, change person:shortname to person:uid.

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 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. When using roles, one can create a group could be created using a:

  • Managed role

  • Filtered role

  • Nested role

All of these roles are computable by nsRole attribute.

Microsoft Active Directory server as the LDAP server

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

 

Procedure

  1. Determine the full distinguished name (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 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. Click Security > Global security.

    2. Under Authentication, click Authentication mechanisms > LDAP.

    3. Set up LDAP with Active Directory at the directory type. Based on the information determined in the previous steps, one can specify the following values on the LDAP settings panel:

      Server user ID

      Specify the short name of the account that was chosen in the second step.

      Server user password

      Specify the password of the account that was chosen in the second step.

      Type

      Specify Active Directory

      Host

      Specify the domain name service (DNS) name of the machine that is running Microsoft Active Directory.

      Base distinguished name (DN)

      Specify the domain components of the DN of the account that was chosen in the first step. For example: dc=ibm, dc=com

      Bind distinguished name (DN)

      Specify the full distinguished name of the account that was chosen in the first step. For example: cn=<adminUsername>, cn=users, dc=ibm, dc=com

      Bind password

      Specify the password of the account that was chosen in the first step.

    4. Click OK to save the changes.

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

  4. Optional: Set ObjectCategory as the filter in the Group member ID map field to improve LDAP performance.

    1. Under Additional properties, click Advanced Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) user registry settings .

    2. Add ;objectCategory:group to the end of the Group member ID map field.

    3. Click OK to save the changes

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

 

See also


Supported directory services

 

See Also


Locating a user's group memberships in Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

 

See Also


Advanced Lightweight Directory Access Protocol user registry settings
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol settings