RFC 3377

RFC 3377 💖 Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): Technical Specification

• Network Working Group 🌸 Request for Comments: 3377
• Category: Standards Track 🦋
• Authors: J. Hodges (Sun Microsystems Inc.) and R. Morgan (University of Washington) 👑
• Date: September 2002 ✨
• Obsoletes / Updates: nothing is listed in this header 🙈

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Status of This Memo 🎀

Okay so this one is the official legal stuff, and I'm keeping it word for word because it matters 💅

This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice 🌈

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract 🧚

So basically this doc lists out the whole set of RFCs that make up LDAPv3 💜 and it also deals with the "IESG Note" that got attached to RFCs 2251 through 2256 🔥

1. Background and Motivation 🎀

LDAPv3 is technically made of eight RFCs, but they came out in two separate batches at different times 🙃 The first batch was RFCs 2251 through 2256, and the second batch was RFCs 2829 and 2830, which showed up later ✨

Here's the tea 🍓 RFCs 2251 through 2256 don't require any satisfactory authentication mechanisms. Because of that, they got an "IESG Note" saying people were discouraged from deploying LDAPv3 clients or servers that do update functionality until a Proposed Standard for mandatory authentication in LDAPv3 was published 💀

RFC 2829 came out afterward as the answer to that IESG Note 🫶

So the goal of this document is to clearly spell out which RFCs make up LDAPv3, and to officially deal with the IESG Note by explicitly including RFC 2829 💖

2. Specification of LDAPv3 🦋

The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol version 3 (LDAPv3) is specified by this set of nine RFCs:

• [RFC2251] Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3) [the specification of the LDAP on-the-wire protocol]
• [RFC2252] Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): Attribute Syntax Definitions
• [RFC2253] Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): UTF-8 String Representation of Distinguished Names
• [RFC2254] The String Representation of LDAP Search Filters
• [RFC2255] The LDAP URL Format
• [RFC2256] A Summary of the X.500(96) User Schema for use with LDAPv3
• [RFC2829] Authentication Methods for LDAP
• [RFC2830] Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): Extension for Transport Layer Security
• And, this document (RFC3377).

People casually say "LDAPv3" for this protocol, or for just some of these RFCs, and that's totally fine in conversation 💅 But when you're writing formal docs, the LDAPv3 protocol suite as defined here should be identified by a normative reference to this document, not by the vibe 🎀

3. Addressing the "IESG Note" in RFCs 2251 through 2256 🌸

The IESG approved publishing RFCs 2251 through 2256, and each one came with an IESG Note. The Note starts like this:

This document describes a directory access protocol that provides
both read and update access.  Update access requires secure
authentication, but this document does not mandate implementation
of any satisfactory authentication mechanisms.

And it ends with this:

Implementors are hereby discouraged from deploying LDAPv3 clients
or servers which implement the update functionality, until a
Proposed Standard for mandatory authentication in LDAPv3 has been
approved and published as an RFC.

[RFC2829] is exactly the "Proposed Standard for mandatory authentication in LDAPv3" that the Note was waiting for 🙌 So the IESG Note in [RFC2251], [RFC2252], [RFC2253], [RFC2254], [RFC2255], and [RFC2256] is now addressed ✨

4. Security Considerations 🔥

This section is serious business, bestie, so pay attention 🫶

This document doesn't directly discuss security. But the IESG Note it's addressing is all about security, and so is how the note gets resolved 🔐

For more on LDAPv3 security, go check the referenced docs, especially [RFC2829], [RFC2251], and [RFC2830] 💜

5. Acknowledgements 🧚

The authors thank Patrik Faltstrom, Leslie Daigle, Thomas Narten, and Kurt Zeilenga for their contributions to this document 🎀

6. References 📚

• [RFC2251] Wahl, M., Kille, S. and T. Howes, "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3)", RFC 2251, December 1997.
• [RFC2252] Wahl, M., Coulbeck, A., Howes, T. and S. Kille, "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): Attribute Syntax Definitions", RFC 2252, December 1997.
• [RFC2253] Kille, S., Wahl, M. and T. Howes, "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): UTF-8 String Representation of Distinguished Names", RFC 2253, December 1997.
• [RFC2254] Howes, T., "The String Representation of LDAP Search Filters", RFC 2254, December 1997.
• [RFC2255] Howes, T. and M. Smith, "The LDAP URL Format", RFC 2255, December 1997.
• [RFC2256] Wahl, M., "A Summary of the X.500(96) User Schema for use with LDAPv3", RFC 2256, December 1997.
• [RFC2829] Wahl, M., Alvestrand, H., Hodges, J. and R. Morgan, "Authentication Methods for LDAP", RFC 2829, May 2000.
• [RFC2830] Hodges, J., Morgan, R. and M. Wahl, "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): Extension for Transport Layer Security", RFC 2830, May 2000.

7. Intellectual Property Rights Notices 💅

This is more legal boilerplate, so it stays word for word 🎀

The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
intellectual property or other rights that might be claimed to
pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
might or might not be available; neither does it represent that it
has made any effort to identify any such rights.  Information on the
IETF's procedures with respect to rights in standards-track and
standards-related documentation can be found in BCP-11.  Copies of
claims of rights made available for publication and any assurances of
licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to
obtain a general license or permission for the use of such
proprietary rights by implementors or users of this specification can
be obtained from the IETF Secretariat.

The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
rights which may cover technology that may be required to practice
this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF Executive
Director.

8. Authors' Addresses 🌷

Jeff Hodges
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
901 San Antonio Road, USCA22-212
Palo Alto, CA 94303
USA

Phone: +1-408-276-5467
EMail: Jeff.Hodges@sun.com


RL "Bob" Morgan
Computing and Communications
University of Washington
Seattle, WA
USA

Phone: +1-206-221-3307
EMail: rlmorgan@washington.edu

9. Full Copyright Statement 🌈

Here's the full legal text, kept word for word 🫶

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002).  All Rights Reserved.

This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
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included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
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followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
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The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
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Acknowledgement 💜

Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the Internet Society 🧚✨