7 - Embedding ApacheDS in Java
Advanced User Guide
 

8 - Operational Attributes

Operational attributes are attributes that are used internally by the server. They generally can’t be modified by a user, although one can read them.

In order to retrieve an operational attribute, you have to require it explicitely, or request all of them using the special attribute ‘+’.

RFC 4512 defines four different flavors of AttributeType :

  • userApplications : User’s attributes
  • directoryOperation : Server’s attributes
  • dSAOperation : Server’s attributes that have no meant in being distributed
  • distributedOperation : Server’s attribute that are used in a distributed environment

ApacheDS support a list of standard LDAP operational attributes, plus a few that are specific. Here are the supported operational attributes.

Global operational attributes

Those operational attributes are stored in the RootDSE, and global to the server. They can’t be modified by a user.

Attribute name Type Category Description
vendorName DSA OPERATION Standard RFC3045: name of implementation vendor
vendorVersion DSA OPERATION Standard RFC3045: version of implementation
entryTtl DSA OPERATION Standard RFC2589: entry time-to-live
dynamicSubtrees DSA OPERATION Standard RFC2589: dynamic subtrees
supportedFeatures DSA OPERATION Standard RFC3674: features supported by the server
supportedControl DSA OPERATION Standard RFC2252: supported controls
supportedSASLMechanisms DSA OPERATION Standard RFC2252: supported SASL mechanisms
supportedLDAPVersion DSA OPERATION Standard RFC2252: supported LDAP versions
namingContexts DSA OPERATION Standard RFC2252: naming contexts
altServer DSA OPERATION Standard RFC2252: alternative servers
supportedExtension DSA OPERATION Standard RFC2252: supported extended operations

Entry operational attributes

Those are attributes related to an entry, carrying some additional information about it

Attribute name Type Category Description
createTimestamp DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC2252: time which object was created
modifyTimestamp DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC2252: time which object was last modified
creatorsName DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC2252: name of creator
modifiersName DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC2252: name of last modifier
hasSubordinates DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard X.501: entry has children
ref DISTRIBUTED OPERATION Standard RFC3296: named reference - a labeledURI
entryUUID DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS UUID of the entry
entryDN DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS DN of the entry
entryCSN DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS Change sequence number of the entry
nbChildren DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS The number of children for this entry
nbSubordinates DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS The number of subordinates for this entry
entryParentId DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS Attribute holding the id of parent entry

Those operational attributes are containing the schema elements handled by the server. They are stored in the RootDSE

Attribute name Type Category Description
ldapSyntaxes DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC2252: LDAP syntaxes
subschemaSubentry DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC2252: name of controlling subschema entry
dITStructureRules DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC2252: DIT structure rules
dITContentRules DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC2252: DIT content rules
matchingRules DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC2252: matching rules
attributeTypes DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC2252: attribute types
objectClasses DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC2252: object classes
nameForms DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC2252: Name Forms
matchingRuleUse DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC2252: matching rule uses
structuralObjectClass DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard X.500(93): structural object class of entry
comparators DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS A multivalued comparator description attribute
normalizers DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS A multivalued normalizer description attribute
syntaxCheckers DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS A multivalued syntaxCheckers description attribute
schemaModifyTimestamp DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS Time which schema was modified
schemaModifiersName DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS The DN of the modifier of the schema

Collective Attributes operational attributes

Those are attributes related to collective attributes.

Attribute name Type Category Description
collectiveAttributeSubentries DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC3671: identifies all collective attribute subentries that affect the entry
collectiveExclusions DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC3671: RFC3671: allows particular collective attributes to be excluded from an entry

Administrative Model Attributes

Those are attributes related to the Administrative Model management

Attribute name Type Category Description
administrativeRole DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC3672: indicate that the associated administrative area is concerned withone or more administrative roles
subtreeSpecification DIRECTORY OPERATION Standard RFC3672: defines a collection of entries within an administrative area
prescriptiveACI DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS Access control information that applies to a set of entries
entryACI DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS Access control information that applies to a single entry
subentryACI DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS Access control information that applies to a single subentry
autonomousAreaSubentry DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS Used to track a subentry associated with an autonomousArea
accessControlSubentries DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS Used to track a subentry associated with access control areas

Those attributes are used in a replication context.

Attribute name Type Category Description
contextCSN DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS The largest committed CSN of a context
entryDeleted DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS Whether or not an entry has been deleted. (Not anymore used)

Those operational attributes are used to define the various system predefined indexes

Attribute name Type Category Description
apachePresence DSA OPERATION ApacheDS Index attribute used to track the existence of attributes
apacheOneLevel DSA OPERATION ApacheDS Index attribute used to track one level searches
apacheOneAlias DSA OPERATION ApacheDS Index attribute used to track single level aliases
apacheSubAlias DSA OPERATION ApacheDS Index attribute used to track sub level aliases
apacheAlias DSA OPERATION ApacheDS Index attribute used to track aliases
apacheSubLevel DSA OPERATION ApacheDS Index attribute used to track sub level searches
apacheRdn DSA OPERATION ApacheDS Index attribute RDN with values both user provided and normalized based on schema

Trigger interceptor Model Attributes

Those are attributes used in the Trigger Interceptor

Attribute name Type Category Description
prescriptiveTriggerSpecification DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS Trigger specification that applies to a set of entries
entryTriggerSpecification DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS Trigger specification that applies to a single entry
triggerExecutionSubentries DIRECTORY OPERATION ApacheDS Used to track subentries associated with a trigger area which an entry falls under

Those operational attributes are meant to be used by teh ChangeLog interceptor. They are not supposed to be distributed, and they can’t be modified by a user.

Attribute name Type Category Description
revisions DSA OPERATION ApacheDS Revision numbers used in change log
changeTime DSA OPERATION ApacheDS Represents the time when the change event occurred
changeType DSA OPERATION ApacheDS Type of change operation
eventId DSA OPERATION ApacheDS The unique sequential id for the event (a.k.a revision number)
committer DSA OPERATION ApacheDS The principal committing the change
changeLogContext DSA OPERATION ApacheDS Tells about the changelog context suffix
7 - Embedding ApacheDS in Java
Advanced User Guide