Provided by: libnet-ldap-perl_0.6800+dfsg-1_all bug

NAME

       Net::LDAP::FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about Net::LDAP

SYNOPSIS

        perldoc Net::LDAP::FAQ

DESCRIPTION

       This document serves to answer the most frequently asked questions on both the perl-ldap Mailing List and
       those sent to Graham Barr.

       The latest version of this FAQ can be found at

        http://ldap.perl.org/FAQ.html

GENERAL

   What is perl-ldap?
       perl-ldap is the distribution name. The perl-ldap distribution contains the Net::LDAP modules.

   Why another Perl LDAP implementation?
       perl-ldap's goal is to be as portable as possible. It does this by being implemented completely in Perl.
       So basically anywhere that Perl runs perl-ldap will run. This is not true for other implementations which
       require a C compiler.

   Where can I get it?
       Perl-ldap is available from CPAN.  You can find the released versions at:

        http://search.cpan.org/dist/perl-ldap/

   Is there a web page for perl-ldap?
       Yes there is at http://ldap.perl.org/

   Is there a mailing list?
       Yes there is at perl-ldap@perl.org

       You can subscribe to this list by mailing perl-ldap-subscribe@perl.org

   Is the mailing list archived?
       Yes, at http://nntp.perl.org/group/perl.ldap

       Archives with messages before we switched to using perl.org can be found at

        http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=perl-ldap-dev

       There is also an archive of the perl-ldap mailing list at

        http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl-ldap/

       which also has messages from before the move.

   Is there any online documentation?
       Yes. perl-ldap has online documentation at

        http://ldap.perl.org/

       which will have the latest documentation available.

   Is there a public repository?
       Yes, there is a public Git repository at

        https://github.com/perl-ldap/perl-ldap

   Can I get perl-ldap from the public Git repository?
       Yes, anyone can pull perl-ldap from the public Git repository on GitHub.

       There are several ways this can be done - see below.

       CPAN
           You can download it from CPAN by following the "Download" link on:

            http://search.cpan.org/dist/perl-ldap/

           Example;

            http://search.cpan.org/CPAN/authors/id/M/MA/MARSCHAP/perl-ldap-0.54.tar.gz

       Git - fork on GitHub
           If  you  have  an  account  on  GitHub  (there's  a  free variant), you can easily fork the perl-ldap
           repository on GitHub.  When logged on to GitHub, navigate to the perl-ldap repository

            https://github.com/perl-ldap/perl-ldap

           and simply click on the "Fork" button near the top-right corner.

       Git - clone repository
           You can download latest development version of perl-ldap from GitHub by cloning the repository  using
           the command:

            git clone https://github.com/perl-ldap/perl-ldap.git

           This  command  will create a directory named 'perl-ldap' in your current directory containing a local
           clone of the repository.

           Keeping your local repository in sync with perl-ldap's GitHub repository is easy:

             cd perl-ldap
             git pull

       Web page
           Most of the time there is a URL link on the perl-ldap home page on ldap.perl.org that points  to  the
           latest  released version of perl-ldap.  Due to the fact that humans must update the web page to point
           to a new release it sometimes does not get updated as quickly as it should.

   What is Git?
       Git (see http://git-scm.com) is a distributed version control system designed to  keep  track  of  source
       changes  made  by groups of developers working on the same files, allowing them to stay in sync with each
       other as each individual chooses.

LDAP AND DIRECTORY TERMINOLOGY.

       In order to help the user understand the perl-ldap module better some key  LDAP  terminology  is  defined
       here.

   What is a directory?
       A  directory  is  a special purpose hierarchical database that usually contains typed information such as
       text strings, binary data, or X.509 certificates.

   What is LDAP?
       LDAP stands for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol.   The  word  Protocol  is  the  key  word  in  the
       definition  given  in  the  preceding  sentence, LDAP is NOT hardware or software.  It is a protocol that
       defines how a client and server will communicate with one another.

       The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is defined in a series of Requests For Comments,  better  known
       as  RFCs.  The RFCs can be found on the Internet at http://www.ietf.org/ (the master repository) and many
       other  places.  There's  a   link   to   all   the   LDAP-related   RFCs   at   perl-ldap's   web   site,
       http://ldap.perl.org/rfc.html.  Some  of  the  more  important  RFC  numbers are RFC 4510 - 4519 for LDAP
       (previously called LDAPv3) and the historic RFC 1777 for LDAPv2.

   What is a LDAP Directory?
       In the strictest terms of the definition there is no such thing as a LDAP  directory.   To  be  practical
       about  this  situation  every day directory professionals refer to their directory as " a LDAP directory"
       because it is easy to say and it does convey  the  type  of  protocol  used  to  communicate  with  their
       directory.   Using  this definition a LDAP directory is a directory whose server software conforms to the
       Lightweight Directory Access Protocol when communicating with a client.

   What is an Entry?
       The traditional directory definition of a directory object is called an Entry. Entries  are  composed  of
       attributes that contain the information to be recorded about the object.

       (An entry in LDAP is somewhat analogous to a record in a table in an SQL database, but don't get too hung
       up about this analogy!)

       Entries are held in an upside-down tree structure. Entries can therefore contain subordinate entries, and
       entries must have one direct superior entry.

       Entries with subordinate entries are called 'non-leaf' entries.

       Entries without subordinate entries are called 'leaf' entries.

       An entry's direct superior entry is called the entry's 'parent'.

       'Non-leaf' entries are also said to have 'child' entries.

   What is an attribute?
       The  entry(s)  in a directory are composed of attributes that contain information about the object.  Each
       attribute has a type and can contain one or more values.

       For example:

         cn=Road Runner

       is an attribute with a type named "cn", and one value.

       Each attribute is described by a 'syntax' which defines what kind of information can  be  stored  in  the
       attributes values.  Trying to store a value that doesn't conform to the attribute's syntax will result in
       an error.

       For example:

         jpegPhoto=unknown

       is not permitted by the directory, because jpegPhotos may only contain JPEG-formatted images.

       Most  syntaxes  used  in  LDAP  however  describe  text strings rather than binary objects (like JPEGs or
       certificates.)

       In LDAPv3 most of these syntaxes support Unicode encoded using UTF-8. Because the  Net::LDAP  modules  do
       not  change  the strings that you pass in as attribute values (they get sent to the LDAP server as-is) to
       use accented characters you simply need to encode your strings in UTF-8. There are modules on  CPAN  that
       will help you here.

       Note  that  LDAPv2  servers  used something called T.61 instead of Unicode and UTF-8. Most servers do not
       implement T.61 correctly, and it is recommended that you use LDAPv3 instead.

       Attributes may also be searched.  The  algorithms  used  to  perform  different  kinds  of  searches  are
       described by the attribute's 'matching rules'.  Some matching rules are case-sensitive and some are case-
       insensitive, for example.  Sometimes matching rules aren't defined for a particular attribute: there's no
       way to search for jpegPhotos that contain a substring!

       You can examine all of a server's attribute definitions by reading the schema from the server.

   What is an object class?
       An  object  class is the name associated with a group of attributes that must be present in an entry, and
       the group of attributes that may also be present in an entry.

       Object classes may be derived (subclassed) from other  object  classes.   For  example  the  widely  used
       'inetOrgPerson'  object  class  is  derived  from  'organizationalPerson',  which  is itself derived from
       'person' which is itself derived from 'top'.

       Every entry has an attribute called 'objectClass' that lists all the names of object classes  (and  their
       superclasses) being used with the entry.

       You can examine all of a server's objectclass definitions by reading the schema from the server.

   What is a Distinguished Name (DN)?
       Every  entry  in a directory has a Distinguished Name, or DN.  It is a unique Entry identifier throughout
       the complete directory.  No two Entries can have the same DN within the same directory.

       Examples of DNs:

        cn=Road Runner, ou=bird, dc=cartoon, dc=com
        ou=bird, dc=cartoon, dc=com
        dc=cartoon, dc=com
        dc=com

   What is a Relative Distinguished Name?
       Every DN is made up of a sequence of Relative Distinguished Names, or RDNs.  The sequences  of  RDNs  are
       separated  by  commas  (,).  In  LDAPv2  semi-colons  (;)  were also allowed.  There can be more than one
       identical RDN in a directory, but they must have different parent entries.

       Technically, an RDN contains attribute-value assertions, or AVAs.  When  an  AVA  is  written  down,  the
       attribute name is separated from the attribute value with an equals (=) sign.

       Example of a DN:

        cn=Road Runner,ou=bird,dc=cartoon,dc=com

        RDNs of the proceeding DN:
        RDN => cn=Road Runner
        RDN => ou=bird
        RDN => dc=cartoon
        RDN => dc=com

       RDNs  can  contain  multiple attributes, though this is somewhat unusual. They are called multi-AVA RDNs,
       and each AVA is separated in the RDN from the others with a plus sign (+).

       Example of a DN with a multi-AVA RDN:

        cn=Road Runner+l=Arizona,ou=bird,dc=cartoon,dc=com

   Where is an entry's name held?
       Entries do not contain their DN. When you retrieve an entry from a search, the server will tell  you  the
       DN of each entry.

       On  the  other  hand,  entries  do  contain  their  RDN.  Recall  that the RDN is formed from one or more
       attribute-value assertions (AVAs); each entry must contain all the attributes and values in the RDN.

       For example the entry:

        cn=Road Runner+l=Arizona,ou=bird,dc=cartoon,dc=com

       must contain a 'cn' attribute containing  at  least  the  value  "Road  Runner",  and  an  'l'  attribute
       containing at least the value "Arizona".

       The attributes used in the RDN may contain additional values, but the entry still only has one DN.

   What is a search base?
       A search base is a Distinguished Name that is the starting point of search queries.

       Example of a DN:

        cn=Road Runner,ou=bird,dc=cartoon,dc=com

       Possible search base(s) for the proceeding DN:

        Base => cn=Road Runner,ou=bird,dc=cartoon,dc=com
        Base => ou=bird,dc=cartoon,dc=com
        Base => dc=cartoon,dc=com
        Base => dc=com

       Setting  the  search  base  to  the  lowest  possible  branch  of  the  directory  will speed up searches
       considerably.

   What is the difference between a LDAP server and a relational database?
       The most basic difference is that a directory server is a specialized database designed to  provide  fast
       searches.  While  a  relational  database  is optimized for transactions (where a series of operations is
       counted as 1, thus if one of the steps fails, the RDBMS can roll-back to the state it was in  before  you
       started).

       Directories  also  typically are hierarchical in nature (RDBMS is typically flat, but you can implement a
       hierarchy using tables and queries), networkable, distributed and replicated.

       LDAP provides an open-standard to a directory service.

       Typically we use LDAP for email directories (all popular email clients provide an LDAP  client  now)  and
       authorization services (authentication and access control).

       You  could  use a RDBMS for these types of queries but there's no set standard, in particular over TCP/IP
       to connect to databases over the network. There's language specific protocols (like Perl's DBI and Java's
       JDBC) that hide this problem behind an API abstraction, but that's  not  a  replacement  for  a  standard
       access protocol.

       LDAP  is  starting  to be used on roles traditionally played by RDBMS in terms of general data management
       because it's easier to setup a LDAP server (once you understand the basic  nomenclature)  and  you  don't
       need a DBA to write your queries and more importantly all LDAP servers speak the same essential protocol,
       thus you don't have to fuss with a database driver trying to connect it to the Internet. Once you have an
       LDAP  server  up  and running, it's automatically available over the 'net.  It's possible to connect to a
       LDAP server from a variety of mechanisms, including just about every possible programming language.

       More information on this topic can be found on the following URLs;

        http://www.openldap.org/faq/data/cache/378.html

        http://www.isode.com/whitepapers/ic-6055.html

   What is the difference between a ldap reference and a ldap referral?
       A referral is returned when the entire operation must be resent to another server.

       A continuation reference is returned when part of the operation must be resent to another server.

       See RFC 4511 section 4.5.3 for more details.

perl-ldap INSTALLATION

   How do I install perl-ldap?
       To install the modules that are in the perl-ldap distribution follow the same steps that  you  would  for
       most other distributions found on CPAN, that is

          # replace 0.62 with the version you have

          gunzip perl-ldap-0.62.tar.gz
          tar xvf perl-ldap-0.62.tar
          cd perl-ldap-0.62

          perl Makefile.PL
          make
          make test
          make install

   But I do not have make, how can I install perl-ldap?
       Well  as  luck  would  have  it  the modules in perl-ldap do not do anything complex, so a simple copy is
       enough to install. First run

         perl -V

       This will output information about the version of Perl you have installed. Near the bottom you will  find
       something like

         @INC:
           /usr/local/lib/perl/5.18.2
           /usr/local/share/perl/5.18.2
           /usr/lib/perl5
           /usr/share/perl5
           /usr/lib/perl/5.18
           /usr/share/perl/5.18
           /usr/local/lib/site_per

       This  is a list of directories that Perl searches when it is looking for a module. The directory you need
       is  the  site_perl  directory,  but  without  the  system  architecture  name,  in  this   case   it   is
       "/usr/local/lib/site_perl". The files required can then be installed with

          # replace 0.62 with the version you have

          gunzip perl-ldap-0.62.tar.gz
          tar xvf perl-ldap-0.62.tar
          cd perl-ldap-0.62/lib

          cp -r * /usr/local/lib/site_perl

   How can I load perl-ldap into an ActiveState Perl installation?
       There are several ways that perl-ldap can be installed into an ActiveState Perl tree.

       1.  The  ActiveState  ppm  command  can be used to install perl-ldap.  When a new version of perl-ldap is
           released, it takes ActiveState a period of time to get the  new  release  into  the  ActiveState  ppm
           system.

       2.  If  the user has nmake installed, the user can do a normal Perl module install using nmake instead of
           make.

       3.  If the user does not have nmake or make, the user can  install  perl-ldap  using  the  install-nomake
           script by issuing the following command.

            perl install-nomake

           The install-nomake script can be used on any system that does not have make installed.

   What other modules will I need?
       perl-ldap uses other Perl modules. Some are required, but some are optional (i.e. required to use certain
       features only).

       If  you  are using a Linux system, many of the distributions have packages that you can install using the
       distribution's package management tools (e.g. apt, rpm, ...).

       Alternatively, you may use your favorite web search engine to find the package that you need.

       Convert::ASN1
           This module converts between Perl data structures and ASN.1, and is required for perl-ldap to work.

           You can obtain the latest release from
             http://search.cpan.org/search?module=Convert::ASN1

       OpenSSL and IO::Socket::SSL
           If you want to use encrypted connections, either via start_tls or LDAPS connections,  you  will  need
           this module and the OpenSSL software package.

           You can obtain the latest release of IO::Socket::SSL from
             http://search.cpan.org/search?module=IO::Socket::SSL

           You can obtain the latest release of OpenSSL from
             http://www.openssl.org/

       IO::Socket::INET6
           For  connecting to LDAP servers via IPv6, IO::Socket::INET6 is required.  Its presence is detected at
           runtime, so that perl-ldap can be installed without it, and automatically gains IPv6 support as  soon
           as IO::Socket::INET6 gets installed.

           You can obtain the latest releases from
             http://search.cpan.org/search?module=IO::Socket::INET6

       IO::Socket::IP
           This  is  an alternative to using IO::Socket::INET6. Like that module, it gets detected automatically
           at runtime. If version 0.20 or higher is  installed,  is  is  preferred  over  IO::Socket::INET6  and
           IO::Socket::INET for all IP connections.

           You can obtain the latest releases from
             http://search.cpan.org/search?module=IO::Socket::IP

       Authen::SASL
           This  module  is  optional.   You  only  need  to  install  Authen::SASL  if you want to use the SASL
           authentication methods.

           You can obtain the latest release from
             http://search.cpan.org/search?module=Authen::SASL

       Digest::MD5
           This module is optional. It also requires a C compiler when installing.  You  only  need  to  install
           Digest::MD5 if you want to use the SASL DIGEST-MD5 authentication mechanism.

           You can obtain the latest release from
             http://search.cpan.org/search?module=Digest::MD5

           As  Digest::MD5  is part of the Perl core modules since Perl 5.7.3, you only need a C compiler if you
           want to install a version that is newer than the version distributed with your Perl installation.

       Digest::HMAC_MD5
           This optional module is required only if you want to use the SASL CRAM-MD5 authentication mechanism.

           You can obtain the latest release from
             http://search.cpan.org/search?module=Digest::HMAC_MD5

       GSSAPI
           This optional module is required only if you want to use the  SASL  GSSAPI  authentication  mechanism
           (e.g. for Kerberos authentication).

           You can obtain the latest release from
             http://search.cpan.org/search?module=GSSAPI

       URI::ldap, URI::ldaps, and URI::ldapi
           These  modules  are optional. You only need to install them if you want to parse ldap://, ldaps:// or
           ldapi://   URIs   using   ldap_parse_uri   in   Net::LDAP::Util.    or    use    LWP::Protocol::ldap,
           LWP::Protocol::ldaps, or LWP::Protocol::ldapi.

           You can obtain the latest releases from
             http://search.cpan.org/search?module=URI::ldap
             http://search.cpan.org/search?module=URI::ldaps
             http://search.cpan.org/search?module=URI::ldapi

       LWP::Protocol, LWP::MediaTypes, HTTP::Negotiate, and HTTP::Response
           These   optional   modules   are   needed   if  you  want  to  use  perl-ldap's  LWP::Protocol::ldap,
           LWP::Protocol::ldaps, or LWP::Protocol::ldapi modules.

           You can obtain the latest releases from
            http://search.cpan.org/search?module=LWP::Protocol
            http://search.cpan.org/search?module=LWP::MediaTypes
            http://search.cpan.org/search?module=HTTP::Negotiate
            http://search.cpan.org/search?module=HTTP::Response

       JSON
           This optional module is  required  for  JSON-formatted  output  of  perl-ldap's  LWP::Protocol::ldap,
           LWP::Protocol::ldaps, or LWP::Protocol::ldapi modules.

           If you need it, you can obtain the latest releases from
            http://search.cpan.org/search?module=JSON

       Time::Local
           This  module  is  optional,  and  only  required  if  you  want  to  convert  between  UNIX  time and
           generalizedTime using the functions provided in Net::LDAP::Util.

       XML::SAX and XML::SAX::Writer
           If you want to parse or write DSMLv1 documents with Net::LDAP::DSML to you will need  these  optional
           modules.

           You can obtain the latest releases from
             http://search.cpan.org/search?module=XML::SAX
             http://search.cpan.org/search?module=XML::SAX::Writer

       ResourcePool::Factory::Net::LDAP
           If  you  want to use failover the ResourcePool::Factory::Net::LDAP Perl module provides methods to do
           this.

           You can obtain the latest release from
             http://search.cpan.org/search?module=ResourcePool::Factory::Net::LDAP

USING NET::LDAP

   How do I connect to my server?
       The connection to the server is created when you create a new Net::LDAP object, e.g.

         $ldap = Net::LDAP->new($server);

   Net::LDAP->new sometimes returns undef, why?
       The constructor will return undef if there was a problem connecting to the specified  server.  Any  error
       message will be available in $@

   What is the proper format of the bind DN?
       The DN used to bind to a directory is a FULLY QUALIFIED DN.  The exact structure of the DN will depend on
       what data has been stored in the server.

       The following are valid examples.

         uid=clif,ou=People,dc=umich,dc=edu

         cn=directory manager,ou=admins,dc=umich,dc=edu

       In some servers the following would be a valid fully qualified DN of the directory manager.

         cn=directory manager

   How can I tell when the server returns an error, bind() always returns true?
       Most  methods  in  Net::LDAP return a Net::LDAP::Message object, or a sub-class of that. This object will
       hold the results from the server, including the result code.

       So, for example, to determine the result of the bind operation.

         $mesg = $ldap->bind( $dn, password => $passwd );

         if ( $mesg->code ) {
           # Handle error codes here
         }

   How can I set the LDAP version of a connection to my LDAP server?
       This is done by adding the version option when connecting or binding to the LDAP server.

       For example;

         $ldap = Net::LDAP->new( $server, version => 3 );

       or

         $mesg = $ldap->bind( $dn, password => $passwd, version => 3 );

       Valid version numbers are 2 and 3.  As of perl-ldap 0.27 the default LDAP version is 3.

   I did a search on my directory using the 'search' method. Where did the results go?
       Your search results are stored in a 'search object'.  Consider the following:

        use Net::LDAP;

        $ldap = Net::LDAP->new('ldap.acme.com') or die "$@";
        $mesg = $ldap->search(
                              base   => "o=acme.com",
                              filter => "uid=jsmith",
                             );

       $mesg is a search object. It is a reference  blessed  into  the  Net::LDAP::Search  package.  By  calling
       methods on this object you can obtain information about the result and also the individual entries.

       The  first thing to check is if the search was successful. This is done with the method $mesg->code. This
       method will return the status code that the server returned. A success will yield a zero value, but there
       are other values, some of which could also be considered a success.  See Net::LDAP::Constant

         use Net::LDAP::Util qw(ldap_error_text);

         die ldap_error_text($mesg->code)
           if $mesg->code;

       There are two ways in which you can access the entries. You can access then with  an  index  or  you  can
       treat the container like a stack and shift each entry in turn. For example

         # as an array

         # How many entries were returned from the search
         my $max = $mesg->count;

         for (my $index = 0 ; $index < $max ; $index++) {
           my $entry = $mesg->entry($index);
           # ...
         }

         # or as a stack

         while (my $entry = $mesg->shift_entry) {
           # ...
         }

       In  each  case $entry is an entry object. It is a reference blessed into the Net::LDAP::Entry package. By
       calling methods on this object you can obtain information about the entry.

       For example, to obtain the DN for the entry

         $dn = $entry->dn;

       To obtain the attributes that a given entry has

         @attrs = $entry->attributes;

       And to get the list of values for a given attribute

         @values = $entry->get( 'sn' );

       And to get the first of the values for a given attribute

         $values = $entry->get( 'cn' );

       One thing to remember is that attribute names are case insensitive, so 'sn', 'Sn', 'sN' and 'SN' are  all
       the same.

       So, if you want to print all the values for the attribute 'ou' then this is as simple as

         foreach ($entry->get_value( 'ou' )) {
             print $_,"\n";
           }

       Now if you just want to print all the values for all the attributes you can do

         foreach my $attr ($entry->attributes) {
           foreach my $value ($entry->get_value($attr)) {
             print $attr, ": ", $value, "\n";
           }
         }

   How do I limit the scope of a directory search?
       You limit the scope of a directory search by setting the scope parameter of search request.  Consider the
       following:

        use Net::LDAP;

        $ldap = Net::LDAP->new('ldap.acme.com') or die "$@";
        $mesg = $ldap->search(
                              base   => "o=acme.com",
                              scope  => 'sub',
                              filter => "uid=jsmith",
                             );

       Values for the scope parameter are as follows.

       base
           Search only the base object.

       one Search the entries immediately below the base object.

       sub
       subtree
           Search the whole tree below (and including) the base object.  This is the default.

       children
           Search the whole subtree below the base object, excluding the base object itself.

           Note: children scope requires LDAPv3 subordinate feature extension.

GETTING SEARCH RESULTS

       There  are  two ways of retrieving the results of a requested LDAP search; inline and by using a callback
       subroutine.

   USING THE INLINE APPROACH
       Using the inline approach involves requesting the data and then  waiting  for  all  of  the  data  to  be
       returned before the user starts processing the data.

       Example:

        use Net::LDAP;

        $ldap = Net::LDAP->new('ldap.acme.com') or die "$@";
        $mesg = $ldap->search(
                              base   => "o=acme.com",
                              scope  => 'sub',
                              filter => "sn=smith",
                             );
        #
        # At this point the user can get the returned data as an array
        # or as a stack.
        # In this example we will use an array

        # How many entries were returned from the search
        my $max = $mesg->count;

        for (my $index = 0 ; $index < $max ; $index++)
        {
          my $entry = $mesg->entry($index);
          my $dn = $entry->dn; # Obtain DN of this entry

          @attrs = $entry->attributes; # Obtain attributes for this entry.
          foreach my $var (@attrs)
          {
            #get a list of values for a given attribute
            $attr = $entry->get_value( $var, asref => 1 );
            if ( defined($attr) )
            {
              foreach my $value ( @$attr )
              {
                print "$var: $value\n";  # Print each value for the attribute.
              }
            }
          }
        }

       As you can see the example is straightforward, but there is one drawback to this approach.  You must wait
       until  all  entries  for  the  request  search  to be returned before you can process the data.  If there
       several thousand entries that match the search filter this could take quite a long time period.

   USING THE CALLBACK SUBROUTINE APPROACH
       Using the callback approach involves requesting the data be sent to a callback subroutine as  each  entry
       arrives at the client.

       A  callback  is  just  a  subroutine  that is passed two parameters when it is called, the mesg and entry
       objects.

       Example:

        use Net::LDAP;

        $ldap = Net::LDAP->new('ldap.acme.com') or die "$@";
        $mesg = $ldap->search(
                              base   => "o=acme.com",
                              scope  => 'sub',
                              filter => "sn=smith",
                              callback => \&callback,
                             );
        #
        # At this point the user needs to check the status of the
        # ldap search.
        #

        if ( $mesg->code )
        {
           $errstr = $mesg->code;
           print "Error code:  $errstr\n";
           $errstr = ldap_error_text($errstr);
           print "$errstr\n";
        }

        sub callback
        {
        my ( $mesg, $entry) = @_;

          #
          # First you must check to see if something was returned.
          # Last execution of callback subroutine will have no
          # defined entry and mesg object
          #
          if ( !defined($entry) )
          {
            print "No records found matching filter $match.\n"
            if ($mesg->count == 0) ; # if mesg is not defined nothing will print.
            return;
          }

          my $dn = $entry->dn; # Obtain DN of this entry

          @attrs = $entry->attributes; # Obtain attributes for this entry.
          foreach my $var (@attrs)
          {
           #get a list of values for a given attribute
           $attr = $entry->get_value( $var, asref => 1 );
           if ( defined($attr) )
           {
             foreach my $value ( @$attr )
             {
               print "$var: $value\n";  # Print each value for the attribute.
             }
           }
          }
          #
          # For large search requests the following line of code
          # may be very important, it will reduce the amount of memory
          # used by the search results.
          #
          # If the user is not worried about memory usage then the line
          # of code can be omitted.
          #
          $mesg->pop_entry;

        }  # End of callback subroutine

       As you can see the example is straightforward and it does not waste time waiting for all of  the  entries
       to  be returned.  However if the pop_entry method is not used the callback approach can allocate a lot of
       memory to the search request.

USING NET::LDAPS

   Using an SSL network connection, how do I connect to my server?
       This class is a subclass of Net::LDAP so all the normal Net::LDAP methods can be used with  a  Net::LDAPS
       object;  see  the  documentation for Net::LDAP to find out how to query a directory server using the LDAP
       protocol.

       The connection to the server is created when you create a new Net::LDAPS object, e.g.

         $ldaps = Net::LDAPS->new($server,
                                  port => '10000',
                                  verify => 'require',
                                  capath => '/usr/local/cacerts/',
                                  );

       Starting with version 0.28 perl-ldap also supports URIs in the new method.  So, the  above  can  also  be
       expressed as:

         $ldaps = Net::LDAP->new("ldaps://$server",
                                  port => '10000',
                                  verify => 'require',
                                  capath => '/usr/local/cacerts/',
                                  );

       There  are  additional  options  to  the  new method with LDAPS URIs and the LDAPS new method and several
       additional methods are included in the LDAPS object class.

       For further information and code examples read the LDAPS module documentation;  perldoc Net::LDAPS

USING LDAP GROUPS.

   What are LDAP groups?
       LDAP groups are object classes that contain an attribute that can store multiple DN values.  Two standard
       object classes are 'groupOfNames' (which has a 'member' attribute) and 'groupOfUniqueNames' (which has  a
       'uniqueMember' attribute.)

       According  to  the  RFCs  a group can be a member of another group, but some LDAP server vendors restrict
       this flexibility by not allowing nested groups in their servers.

       Two scripts for working with groups are available in the contrib directory.   They  are  isMember.pl  and
       printMembers.pl.

   How do you format a filter to search for entries whose 'member' attribute has a particular value?
       Asking  for  (member=*)  is  OK  - the directory uses the equality matching rule which is defined for the
       member attribute.

       Asking for (member=c*) is not OK - there is no defined substring matching rule for the member  attribute.
       That's  because  the  member  values  are  *not*  strings, but distinguished names. There is no substring
       matching rule for DNs, see RFC 4519 section 2.7.

       What you have to do is get the results of (member=*) and  then  select  the  required  results  from  the
       returned  values.  You need to do this using knowledge of the string representation of DNs defined in RFC
       4514, which is important because the same DN can have different string representations. So  you  need  to
       perform some canonicalization if you want to be correct.

USING DSML.

   How can I access DSML features from perl-ldap?
       Directory  Service  Markup  Language  (DSML)  is  the  XML  standard  for  representing directory service
       information in XML.

       Support for DSML is included in perl-ldap starting with version .20.

       At the moment this module only reads and writes  DSML  entry  entities.  It  cannot  process  any  schema
       entities because schema entities are processed differently than elements.

       Eventually  this  module  will be a full level 2 consumer and producer enabling you to give you full DSML
       conformance.

       The specification for DSML is at http://www.oasis-open.org/specs/

       For further information and code examples read the DSML module documentation;  perldoc Net::LDAP::DSML

USING CONTROLS AND VIRTUAL LISTS.

   How do I access the Control features?
       Support for LDAP version 3 Control objects is included in perl-ldap starting with version .20.

       For  further  information  and  code  examples  read   the   Control   module   documentation;    perldoc
       Net::LDAP::Control

   How do I access the Virtual List features?
       Support for Virtual Lists is included in perl-ldap starting with version .20.

       For   further   information   and   code   examples  read  the  Control  module  documentation;   perldoc
       Net::LDAP::Control

GENERAL QUESTIONS.

   Are there any other code examples.
       Yes,  there  is  an  Examples  pod  file.   To  view  the  pod  do  the   following   command;    perldoc
       Net::LDAP::Examples

       There  is  user  contributed  software  in  the  contrib  directory  that  is supplied with the perl-ldap
       distribution.  This is an excellent source of information on how to use the perl-ldap module.

   Are there any performance issues with perl-ldap?
       In the vast majority of use cases (one user has suggested 9 out of 10) there are  no  performance  issues
       with perl-ldap.

       Where you may wish to use perl-ldap to perform, for example, a very large number of queries (e.g. 10,000)
       in  succession  you  may  find  a  noticeable  performance difference between perl-ldap and non pure-Perl
       modules. This is not because of perl-ldap itself but because of the pure-Perl Convert::ASN1  module  that
       it depends on.

       You should make up your own mind, based upon your own situation (performance requirements, hardware etc.)
       as to whether you should use perl-ldap or not. The figures quoted in this answer are only indicative, and
       will differ for different people.

   Can I contribute Perl scripts that use perl-ldap to the contrib section?
       Any one can submit a Perl script that uses perl-ldap for inclusion in the contrib section.  The perl-ldap
       maintainers will determiner if the script will be included and will do the initial check in of the script
       to the Git repository at https://github.com/perl-ldap/perl-ldap.

       There are a couple of requirements for consideration.

       You must supply a one line description of your script to be included in the contrib README file.

       Inside  the  script  will  be  the  pod documentation for the script.  No auxiliary documentation will be
       allowed.  For examples of how to do this see the tklkup script currently in the contrib section.

   Is it possible to get a complete entry, DN and attributes without specifying the attributes name?
       Yes, just specify you want a list of no attributes back. The RFC says  that  this  tells  the  server  to
       return all readable attributes back (there may be access controls to prevent some from being returned.)

       So in the search method, just set (for LDAPv2):

                       attrs => [ ]

       If  you  are  using  LDAPv3,  you  can  specify  an  attribute called "*" instead, which lets you ask for
       additional (i.g. operational) attributes in the same search.

                       attrs => [ "*" ]

       To get all operational attributes in a search, some servers allow the use of the "+" pseudo attribute. So
       that with these servers

                       attrs => [ "*", "+" ]

       will return the most information from the server.

   How do I put a JPEG photo into a entry in the directory?
       Follow the following code example, replacing the (...) with whatever is relevant to your setup.

         use Net::LDAP;
         use Net::LDAP::Util qw(ldap_error_text);
         use CGI;

         local $/ = undef;
         my $jpeg = <$filename>;

         my $ldap = Net::LDAP->new(...);
         my $res = $ldap->bind(...);
            $res = $ldap->modify(...,
                          add => [ 'jpegPhoto' => [ $jpeg ] ]);
            $res = $ldap->unbind();

   How do I add a jpeg photo into a entry in the directory via html-forms?
       Follow the following code example, replacing the (...) with whatever is relevant to your setup.

         use Net::LDAP;
         use Net::LDAP::Util qw(ldap_error_text);
         use CGI;

         my $q = new CGI;

         print $q->header;
         print $q->start_html(-title => 'Change JPEG photo');

         if ($q->param('Update')) {
                 my $filename = $q->param('jpeg');
                 local $/ = undef;
                 my $jpeg = <$filename>;

                 my $ldap = Net::LDAP->new(...);
                 my $res = $ldap->bind(...);
                 $res = $ldap->modify(...,
                                 add => [ 'jpegPhoto' => [ $jpeg ] ]);
                 $res = $ldap->unbind();
         } else {
                 print $q->start_multipart_form();
                 print $q->filefield(-name => 'jpeg', -size => 50);
                 print $q->submit('Update');
                 print $q->end_form();
         }

         print $q->end_html();

   What happens when you delete an attribute that does not exist?
       It is an error to delete an attribute that doesn't exist.  When you get the error back the server ignores
       the entire modify operation you sent it, so you need to make sure the error doesn't happen.

       Another approach, if you are using LDAPv3 (note beginning with  version  .27  Net::LDAP  uses  LDAPv3  by
       default)  is  to  use  a 'replace' with your attribute name and no values.  In LDAPv3, this is defined to
       always work even if that attribute doesn't exist in the entry.

       I.e.:

         my $mesg = $ldap->modify( $entry, replace => { %qv_del_arry } );

       But make sure  you  are  using  LDAPv3,  because  that  is  defined  to  not  work  in  LDAPv2.  (A  nice
       incompatibility between LDAPv2 and LDAPv3.)

   How can I delete a referral from an LDAP tree?
       Since  this  is a proprietary feature, you will have to check your server's documentation. You might find
       that you need to use a control. If there is a control called something like ManageDsaIT, that's  the  one
       you  should  probably  use.   For  proper  operation  you  will  need  the  oid  number  for ManageDsaIT;
       2.16.840.1.113730.3.4.2 and do not specify a value for type.

       The code required will look similar to the following code snippet.

         $mesg =  $ldap->delete("ref=\"ldap://acme/c=us,o=bricks\",o=clay",
                         control => {type => "2.16.840.1.113730.3.4.2"} );

   How do I add an ACI/ACL entry to a directory server with perl-ldap?
       ACIs and ACLs are proprietary features in  LDAP.  The  following  code  snippet  works  with  a  Netscape
       directory server. You will need the specify the correct DN (-DN-) and correct attribute(s) (-ATTRNAMEs-).

         my $aci = '(target="ldap:///-DN-")(targetattr="-ATTRNAMEs-")(version 3.0;
                     acl "-ACLNAME-"; deny(all) userdn = "ldap:///self";)' ;

         $ldap->modify($dn_modif, add => {'aci' => $aci });

   How do I avoid file type and data type mis-matching when loading data from a Win32 system?
       When  loading a binary attribute with data read from a file on a Win32 system, it has been noted that you
       should set "binmode" on the file before reading the file contents into the data array.

       Another possible solution to this problem is to convert the binary data into a base64 encoded string  and
       then  store the encoded string in the file.  Then when reading the file, decode the base64 encoded string
       back to binary and then use perl-ldap to store the data in the directory.

   How do I create an account in Active Directory?
       Active Directory accounts need some AD-specific attributes (only the method we're interested in, no error
       checking):

         $mesg = $ldap->add( 'cn=John Doe,cn=Users,dc=your,dc=ads,dc=domain',
                             attrs => [
                               objectClass => [ qw/top user/ ],
                               cn => 'John Doe',
                               sn => 'Doe',
                               givenName => 'John',
                               displayName => 'John "the one" Doe',
                               userAccountControl => 514,      # disabled regular user
                               sAMAccountName => 'JohnDoe',
                               userPrincipalName => 'JohnDoe@your.ads.domain'
                             ]
                           );

       In order to find out what other attributes can  be  set,  interactively  edit  the  user  in  the  Active
       Directory  Users and Computers MCC plugin, perform an LDAP search operation to find out what changed, and
       update your "add" routine accordingly.

   How can I create a group in Active Directory?
       Similar to accounts, groups need some AD-specific attributes too:

         $mesg = $ldap->add( 'cn=NewGroup,cn=Users,dc=your,dc=ads,dc=domain',
                             attrs => [
                               objectClass => [ qw/top group/ ],
                               cn => 'NewGroup',
                               sAMAccountName => 'NewGroup',
                               groupType => 0x80000002         # global, security enabled group
                             ]
                           );

   How do I search for disabled accounts in Active Directory
       The bit values in "userAccountControl" require the LDAP_MATCHING_RULE_BIT_AND matching rule's OID  to  be
       used in an extensible filter term:

         $mesg = $ldap->search( base   => 'cn=Users,dc=your,dc=ads,dc=domain',
                                filter => '(&(objectclass=user)' .
                                             (userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2))',
                                attrs  => [ '1.1' ]
                              );

   How can I search for security groups in Active Directory
       With groups, the same applies to the "groupType" bit-field:

         $mesg = $ldap->search( base   => 'cn=Users,dc=your,dc=ads,dc=domain',
                                filter => '(&(objectclass=group)' .
                                             (groupType:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2147483648))',
                                             # 2147483648 = 0x80000000
                                attrs  => [ '1.1' ]
                              );

   How can I search for all members of a group in AD (including group nesting)?
       AD  allows you to find all members of a specified group, the direct members plus those that are member of
       the group via group nesting.

       The trick to this is the special "LDAP_MATCHING_RULE_IN_CHAIN" matching rule:

         $mesg = $ldap->search( base   => 'cn=Users,dc=your,dc=ads,dc=domain',
                                filter => '(memberOf:1.2.840.113556.1.4.1941:=cn=Testgroup,dc=your,dc=ads,dc=domain)',
                                attrs  => [ '1.1' ]
                              );

   How can I search for all groups one user is a member of in AD (including group nesting)?
       Similarly you can search for all the groups one user is member of, either directly or via group nesting.

         $mesg = $ldap->search( base   => 'dc=your,dc=ads,dc=domain',
                                filter => '(member:1.2.840.113556.1.4.1941:=cn=TestUser,ou=Users,dc=your,dc=ads,dc=domain)',
                                attrs  => [ '1.1' ]
                              );

   How do I search for all members of a large group in AD?
       AD normally restricts the number of attribute values returned in one query.  The exact number depends  on
       the AD server version: it was ~1000 in Win2000, 1500 in Win2003 and is 5000 in Win2008 & Win2008R2.

       Performing the same standard search again will yield the same values again.

       So, how can you get all members of a really large AD group?

       The  trick to use here is to use Microsoft's range option when searching, i.e instead of doing one search
       for plain "member", perform multiple searches for e.g. "member;range=1000-*"  where  the  range  starting
       index increases accordingly:

         my $mesg;
         my @members;
         my $index = 0;

         while ($index ne '*') {
           $mesg = $ldap->search( base   => 'cn=Testgroup,dc=your,dc=ads,dc=domain',
                                  filter => '(objectclass=group)',
                                  scope  => 'base',
                                  attrs  => [ ($index > 0) ? "member;range=$index-*" : 'member' ]
                                );
           if ($mesg->code == LDAP_SUCCESS) {
             my $entry = $mesg->entry(0);
             my $attr;

             # large group: let's do the range option dance
             if (($attr) = grep(/^member;range=/, $entry->attributes)) {
               push(@members, $entry->get_value($attr));

               if ($attr =~ /^member;range=\d+-(.*)$/) {
                 $index = $1;
                 $index++  if ($index ne '*');
               }
             }
             # small group: no need for the range dance
             else {
               @members = $entry->get_value('member');
               last;
             }
           }
           # failure
           else {
             last;
           }
         }

         if ($mesg->code == LDAP_SUCCESS) {
           # success: @members contains the members of the group
         }
         else {
           # failure: deal with the error in $mesg
         }

       See <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa367017.aspx> for more details.

   How do I create a Microsoft Exchange 5.x user?
       This is a solution provided by a perl-ldap user.

       This code works with ActiveState Perl running on WinNT 4. Please note that this requires the Win32::Perms
       module, and needs valid NT account info to replace the placeholders.

         use Net::LDAP;
         use Net::LDAP::Util;
         use Win32::Perms;

         #Constants taken from ADSI Type Library
         $ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_ADD_CHILD = 1;
         $ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_DELETE = 0x10000;
         $ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_DS_REPLICATION = 64;
         $ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_DS_SEARCH = 256;
         $ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_MAIL_ADMIN_AS = 32;
         $ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_MAIL_RECEIVE_AS = 16;
         $ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_MAIL_SEND_AS = 8;
         $ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_MODIFY_ADMIN_ATT = 4;
         $ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_MODIFY_SEC_ATT = 128;
         $ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_MODIFY_USER_ATT = 2;

         $EXCH_USER_RIGHTS = $ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_MAIL_RECEIVE_AS |
         $ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_MAIL_SEND_AS |
         $ADS_RIGHT_EXCH_MODIFY_USER_ATT;

         $exch = Net::LDAP->new('server', debug =>0) || die $@;

         $exch->bind( 'cn=admin_user,cn=nt_domain,cn=admin', version =>3,
         password=>'password');

         $myObj = Win32::Perms->new();
         $Result = $myObj->Owner('nt_domain\user_name');
         $myObj->Group('nt_domain\Everyone');
         $myObj->Allow('nt_domain\user_name',
         $EXCH_USER_RIGHTS,OBJECT_INHERIT_ACE);
         $BinarySD = $myObj->GetSD(SD_RELATIVE);
         $TextSD = uc(unpack( "H*", $BinarySD ));
         Win32::Perms::ResolveSid('nt_domain\user_name', $sid);
         $mysid = uc(unpack("H*",$sid));

         $result = $exch->add ( dn   =>
                       'cn=user_name,cn=container,ou=site,o=organisation',
                       attr => [ 'objectClass' => ['organizationalPerson'],
                                 'cn'   => 'directory_name',
                                 'uid' => 'mail_nickname',
                                 'mail' => 'smtp_address',
                               'assoc-nt-account' => [ $mysid ],
                               'nt-security-descriptor' => [ $TextSD ],
                               'mailPreferenceOption'  => 0
                               ]
                     );

         print ldap_error_name($result->code);

   How do I reset a user's password ...
       ... in most LDAP servers?

       Most LDAP servers use the standard userPassword attribute as the attribute to set when you want to change
       a user's password.

       They  usually allow one to set the password either using the regular modify operation on the userPassword
       attribute or using the extended LDAP Password Modify operation defined in RFC3062.

       The recommended method is the extended Password Modify operation, which offers a standardized way to  set
       user passwords but unfortunately is not available on all LDAP servers.

       Whether  the  extended Password Modify operation is available can be found out by searching the attribute
       supportedExtension for the value 1.3.6.1.4.1.4203.1.11.1 in the RootDSE object.

       If the extended Password Modify operation is not available the alternative is the regular modification of
       the userPassword attribute.

       But this method has some drawbacks:

       •   Depending on the type of the server the arguments to the modify operations may vary.  Some  want  the
           modify  done  with  replace, some want it done by explicitly deleting the old password and add of the
           new one.  This may even depend on whether you change the  password  for  the  bound  user  or  as  an
           administrator for another user.

       •   With  the  modify  operation  some servers expect the client to do the hashing of the password on the
           client side. I.e. all clients that set passwords need to agree on the algorithm and the format of the
           hashed password.

       •   Some LDAP servers do not allow setting the password if the connection is  not  sufficiently  secured.
           I.e. require SSL or TLS support to set the password (which is heavily recommended anyway ;-)

       Here is an example of how to change your own password (for brevity's sake error checking is left out):

         use Net::LDAP;

         my $ldap = Net::LDAP->new('ldaps://server.domain')  or  die "$@";
         my $mesg = $ldap->bind('cn=Joe User,dc=perl,dc=ldap,dc=org',
                                password => 'oldPW');

         my $rootdse = $ldap->root_dse();

         if ($rootdse->supported_extension('1.3.6.1.4.1.4203.1.11.1')) {

             require Net::LDAP::Extension::SetPassword;

             $mesg = $ldap->set_password(user => 'cn=Joe User,dc=perl,dc=ldap,dc=org',
                                         oldpasswd => 'oldPW',
                                         newpasswd => 'newPW');
         }
         else {
             $mesg = $ldap->modify('cn=Joe User,dc=perl,dc=ldap,dc=org',
                                   changes => [
                                       delete => [ userPassword => $oldPW ]
                                       add    => [ userPassword => $newPW ] ]);
         }

         $ldap->unbind();

       ... in MS Active Directory?

       With  Active  Directory  a  user's  password  is stored in the unicodePwd attribute and changed using the
       regular modify operation.

       ADS expects this password to be encoded in Unicode - UTF-16 to be exact.  Before the  Unicode  conversion
       is done the password needs to be surrounded by double quotes which do not belong to the user's password.

       For the password modify operation to succeed SSL is required.

       When  changing the password for the user bound to the directory ADS expects it to be done by deleting the
       old password and adding the new one.  When doing it as a user with  administrative  privileges  replacing
       the unicodePwd's value with a new one is allowed too.

       Perl-ldap  contains  convenience  methods  for  Active Directory that allow one to perform this task very
       easily.

       Here's an example that demonstrates setting your own password from $oldPW  to  $newPW  (again  almost  no
       error checking):

         use Net::LDAP;
         use Net::LDAP::Extra qw(AD);

         my $ldap = Net::LDAP->new('ldaps://ads.domain.controller')  or  die "$@";

         my $mesg = $ldap->bind('cn=Joe User,dc=your,dc=ads,dc=domain',
                                password => $oldPW);

         $mesg = $ldap->change_ADpassword('cn=Joe User,dc=your,dc=ads,dc=domain',
                                          $oldPW, $newPW);

         $ldap->unbind();

       And the same for perl-ldap versions before 0.49, where everything needs to be done by hand:

         use Net::LDAP;
         use Unicode::Map8;
         use Unicode::String qw(utf16);

         # build the conversion map from your local character set to Unicode
         my $charmap = Unicode::Map8->new('latin1')  or  die;

         # surround the PW with double quotes and convert it to UTF-16
         # byteswap() was necessary in experiments on i386 Linux, YMMV
         my $oldUniPW = $charmap->tou('"'.$oldPW.'"')->byteswap()->utf16();
         my $newUniPW = $charmap->tou('"'.$newPW.'"')->byteswap()->utf16();

         my $ldap = Net::LDAP->new('ldaps://ads.domain.controller')  or  die "$@";

         my $mesg = $ldap->bind('cn=Joe User,dc=your,dc=ads,dc=domain',
                                password => $oldPW);

         $mesg = $ldap->modify('cn=Joe User,dc=your,dc=ads,dc=domain',
                               changes => [
                                   delete => [ unicodePwd => $oldUniPW ]
                                   add    => [ unicodePwd => $newUniPW ] ]);

         $ldap->unbind();

   How can I simulate server failover?
       Perl-ldap  does  not do server failover, however there are several programming options for getting around
       this situation.

       Here is one possible solution:

         $ldaps = Net::LDAPS->new([ $ldapserverone, $ldapservertwo ],
                                  port=>636, timeout=>5)  or  die "$@";

       For perl-ldap versions before 0.27, the same goal can be achieved using:

         unless ( $ldaps =
                   Net::LDAPS->new($ldapserverone,
                                   port=>636,timeout=>5) )
                 {
                     $ldaps = Net::LDAPS->new($ldapservertwo,
                                              port=>636,timeout=>20) ||
                     return
                     "Can't connect to $ldapserverone or $ldapservertwo via LDAPS: $@";
                 }

Using X.509 certificates.

   How do I store X.509 certificates in the directory?
       The first problem here is that there are many different formats to hold certificates in, for example PEM,
       DER, PKCS#7 and PKCS#12. The directory only uses the DER format (more correctly, it  only  uses  the  BER
       format) which is a binary format.

       Your first job is to ensure that your certificates are therefore in DER/BER format. You could use OpenSSL
       to convert from PEM like this:

         openssl x509 -inform PEM -in cert.pem -outform DER -out cert.der

       Consult the OpenSSL documentation to find out how to perform other conversions.

       To  add a certificate to the directory, just slurp in the DER/BER certificate into a scalar variable, and
       add it to the entry's userCertificate attribute. How you do that will depend on which version of LDAP you
       are using.

       To slurp in the certificate try something like this:

         my $cert;
         {
             local $/ = undef; # Slurp mode
             open CERT, "cert.der" or die;
             binmode CERT;     # for Windows e.a.
             $cert = <CERT>;
             close CERT;
         }
         # The certificate is now in $cert

       For LDAPv2, because most directory vendors ignore the string representation of  certificates  defined  in
       RFC 1778, you should add this value to the directory like this:

         $res = $ldap->modify("cn=My User, o=My Company,c=XY",
                              add => [
                                      'userCertificate' => [ $cert ]
                                     ]);
         die "Modify failed (" . ldap_error_name($res->code) . ")\n"
             if $res->code;

       For LDAPv3, you must do this instead:

         $res = $ldap->modify("cn=My User, o=My Company, c=XY",
                              add => [
                                      'userCertificate;binary' => [ $cert ]
                                     ]);
         die "Modify failed (" . ldap_error_name($res->code) . ")\n"
             if $res->code;

       Of  course,  the  entry  you are trying to add the certificate to must use object classes that permit the
       userCertificate attribute, otherwise the modify will fail with  an  object  class  violation  error.  The
       inetOrgPerson  structural  object  class  permits  userCertificates, as does the strongAuthenticationUser
       auxiliary object class. Others might also.

   How do I search objects by the contents of certificates.
       The directory needs to support one or more of the certificate*Match matching rules.

       Then using the filter (for certificateExactMatch)

         (userCertificate={ serialNumber 1234, issuer "cn=CA,o=TrustCenter" })

       allows searching for the objects containing the attribute userCertificate  with  a  certificate  matching
       these criteria.

       Please  note  that the exact syntax of the values for the serialNumber and the issuer above may depend on
       the LDAP server.  In any case the example above works with OpenLDAP 2.4.33.

ADDITIONAL DIRECTORY AND LDAP RESOURCES.

   URLs.
       Net::LDAP::Server - LDAP server framework in Perl  http://search.cpan.org/search?module=Net::LDAP::Server
       https://github.com/alexrj/Net-LDAP-Server

       Net::LDAP::SimpleServer             -             LDAP             server             in             Perl
       http://search.cpan.org/search?module=Net::LDAP::SimpleServer
       https://github.com/russoz/Net-LDAP-SimpleServer

       LemonLDAP::NG - Web SingleSignOn solution & SAML IdP in Perl http://lemonldap-ng.org/

       Dancer::Plugin::LDAP       -       LDAP       plugin       for       Dancer        micro        framework
       http://search.cpan.org/search?module=Dancer::Plugin::LDAP https://github.com/racke/Dancer-Plugin-LDAP

       Directory Services Mark Language (DSML) http://www.oasis-open.org/specs/

       eMailman LDAP information http://www.emailman.com/ldap/

       Rafael Corvalan's LDAP shell http://sf.net/projects/ldapsh

       Jeff  Hodges's  Kings Mountain LDAP http://www.kingsmountain.com/ldapRoadmap.shtml (outdated: last update
       was in 2004)

       willeke.com's LDAP Wiki http://ldapwiki.willeke.com/wiki/LDAP

       OpenLDAP Directory Server - open source LDAP server.  http://www.openldap.org/

       389 Directory Server - open source LDAP server http://port389.org/

       ApacheDS - open source LDAP server in Java http://directory.apache.org/

       CriticalPath http://www.cp.net/

       ForgeRock's OpenDS - LDAPv3 server with additional REST APIs http://www.forgerock.com/opendj.html

       IBM Tivoli Directory Server http://www-01.ibm.com/software/tivoli/products/directory-server/

       Isode (was MessagingDirect) http://www.isode.com/

       Nexor's X.500 and Internet Directories http://www.nexor.com/info/directory.htm/

       Novell's eDirectory http://www.novell.com/

       Octet String http://www.octetstring.com/

       SUN JAVA JNDI (Java Naming and Directory Interface) http://java.sun.com/products/jndi/overview.html

       Oracle   Directory    Server    Enterprise    Edition,    formerly    Sun    One,    formerly    iPlanet.
       http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/id-mgmt/index-085178.html

       OptimalIDM      -      Virtual      Identity     Server     -     .NET     LDAP     virtual     directory
       http://www.optimalidm.com/products/vis/Virtual-Directory-Server-VDS.aspx

       Quest    One    Quick    Connect    Virtual    Directory    Server    -    LDAP     virtual     directory
       http://www.quest.com/quest-one-quick-connect-virtual-directory-server/

       UnboundID's Identity data platform https://www.unboundid.com/

       Virtual Directory Blogger https://virtualdirectory.wordpress.com/

       eldapo - a directory manager's blog http://eldapo.blogspot.de/

       Eine deutsche LDAP Website A German LDAP Website http://verzeichnisdienst.de/ldap/Perl/index.html

       (non-exhaustive) list of LDAP software on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LDAP_software

       "RFC Sourcebook" on LDAP http://www.networksorcery.com/enp/protocol/ldap.htm

       web2ldap - WWW gateway to LDAP server in Python http://www.web2ldap.de/

       Softerra LDAP Browser / Administrator http://www.ldapbrowser.com/

       The 2 following URLs deal mainly with Microsoft's Active Directory.

       Directory Works http://directoryworks.com/

       LDAP Client .Net & ActiveX LDAP Client http://www.ldapservices.com/Products/Default.aspx

   BOOKS
       Developing LDAP and ADSI Clients for Microsoft(R) Exchange.  By Sven B. Schreiber.  ISBN:  0201657775

       Implementing LDAP.  By Mark Wilcox.  ISBN:  1861002211

       LDAP:  Programming  Directory-Enabled  Applications  With  Lightweight Directory Access Protocol.  By Tim
       Howes, Mark Smith.  ISBN:  1578700000

       LDAP Programming; Directory Management and Integration.  By Clayton Donley.  ISBN:  1884777910

       LDAP Programming with Java.  By Rob Weltman, Tony Dahbura.  ISBN:  0201657589

       LDAP System Administration.  By Gerald Carter.  ISBN:  1565924916

       Managing Enterprise Active Directory Services.  By Robbie Allen, Richard Puckett.  ISBN:  0672321254

       Solaris and LDAP Naming Services.  By Tom Bialaski, Michael Haines. ISBN:  0-13-030678-9

       Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services (2ed).  By Tim Howes, Mark Smith, Gordon Good.  ISBN:
       0672323168

       LDAP Directories Explained.  By Brian Arkills. ISBN 0-201-78792-X

AUTHORS

       Any good FAQ is made up of many authors, everyone that contributes information to the perl-ldap mail list
       is a potential author.

       An attempt to maintain this FAQ is being done by Chris Ridd <chris.ridd@isode.com>  and  Peter  Marschall
       <peter@adpm.de>.  It was previously updated by Clif Harden <charden@pobox.com>.

       The original author of this FAQ was Graham Barr <gbarr@pobox.com>

       Please report any bugs, or post any suggestions, to the perl-ldap mailing list <perl-ldap@perl.org>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright  (c)  1999-2004  Graham  Barr, (c) 2012 Peter Marschall. All rights reserved.  This document is
       distributed, and may be redistributed, under the same terms as Perl itself.

perl v5.32.0                                       2021-01-03                                Net::LDAP::FAQ(3pm)