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-
- <modulesynopsis metafile="mod_ldap.xml.meta">
-
- <name>mod_ldap</name>
- <description>LDAP connection pooling and result caching services for use
- by other LDAP modules</description>
- <status>Experimental</status>
- <sourcefile>util_ldap.c</sourcefile>
- <identifier>ldap_module</identifier>
- <compatibility>Available in version 2.0.41 and later</compatibility>
-
- <summary>
- <p>This module was created to improve the performance of
- websites relying on backend connections to LDAP servers. In
- addition to the functions provided by the standard LDAP
- libraries, this module adds an LDAP connection pool and an LDAP
- shared memory cache.</p>
-
- <p>To enable this module, LDAP support must be compiled into
- apr-util. This is achieved by adding the <code>--with-ldap</code>
- flag to the <code>./configure</code> script when building
- Apache.</p>
-
- <p>SSL support requires that <module>mod_ldap</module> be linked
- with one of the following LDAP SDKs: <a href="http://www.openldap.org/">
- OpenLDAP SDK</a> (both 1.x and 2.x), <a href="http://developer.novell.com/ndk/cldap.htm">
- Novell LDAP SDK</a> or the <a href="http://www.iplanet.com/downloads/developer/">
- iPlanet(Netscape)</a> SDK.</p>
-
- </summary>
-
- <section id="exampleconfig"><title>Example Configuration</title>
- <p>The following is an example configuration that uses
- <module>mod_ldap</module> to increase the performance of HTTP Basic
- authentication provided by <module>mod_auth_ldap</module>.</p>
-
- <example>
- # Enable the LDAP connection pool and shared<br />
- # memory cache. Enable the LDAP cache status<br />
- # handler. Requires that mod_ldap and mod_auth_ldap<br />
- # be loaded. Change the "yourdomain.example.com" to<br />
- # match your domain.<br />
- <br />
- LDAPSharedCacheSize 200000<br />
- LDAPCacheEntries 1024<br />
- LDAPCacheTTL 600<br />
- LDAPOpCacheEntries 1024<br />
- LDAPOpCacheTTL 600<br />
- <br />
- <Location /ldap-status><br />
- <indent>
- SetHandler ldap-status<br />
- Order deny,allow<br />
- Deny from all<br />
- Allow from yourdomain.example.com<br />
- AuthLDAPEnabled on<br />
- AuthLDAPURL ldap://127.0.0.1/dc=example,dc=com?uid?one<br />
- AuthLDAPAuthoritative on<br />
- require valid-user<br />
- </indent>
- </Location>
- </example>
- </section>
-
- <section id="pool"><title>LDAP Connection Pool</title>
-
- <p>LDAP connections are pooled from request to request. This
- allows the LDAP server to remain connected and bound ready for
- the next request, without the need to unbind/connect/rebind.
- The performance advantages are similar to the effect of HTTP
- keepalives.</p>
-
- <p>On a busy server it is possible that many requests will try
- and access the same LDAP server connection simultaneously.
- Where an LDAP connection is in use, Apache will create a new
- connection alongside the original one. This ensures that the
- connection pool does not become a bottleneck.</p>
-
- <p>There is no need to manually enable connection pooling in
- the Apache configuration. Any module using this module for
- access to LDAP services will share the connection pool.</p>
- </section>
-
- <section id="cache"><title>LDAP Cache</title>
-
- <p>For improved performance, <module>mod_ldap</module> uses an aggressive
- caching strategy to minimize the number of times that the LDAP
- server must be contacted. Caching can easily double or triple
- the throughput of Apache when it is serving pages protected
- with mod_auth_ldap. In addition, the load on the LDAP server
- will be significantly decreased.</p>
-
- <p><module>mod_ldap</module> supports two types of LDAP caching during
- the search/bind phase with a <em>search/bind cache</em> and
- during the compare phase with two <em>operation
- caches</em>. Each LDAP URL that is used by the server has
- its own set of these three caches.</p>
-
- <section id="search-bind"><title>The Search/Bind Cache</title>
- <p>The process of doing a search and then a bind is the
- most time-consuming aspect of LDAP operation, especially if
- the directory is large. The search/bind cache is used to
- cache all searches that resulted in successful binds.
- Negative results (<em>i.e.</em>, unsuccessful searches, or searches
- that did not result in a successful bind) are not cached.
- The rationale behind this decision is that connections with
- invalid credentials are only a tiny percentage of the total
- number of connections, so by not caching invalid
- credentials, the size of the cache is reduced.</p>
-
- <p><module>mod_ldap</module> stores the username, the DN
- retrieved, the password used to bind, and the time of the bind
- in the cache. Whenever a new connection is initiated with the
- same username, <module>mod_ldap</module> compares the password
- of the new connection with the password in the cache. If the
- passwords match, and if the cached entry is not too old,
- <module>mod_ldap</module> bypasses the search/bind phase.</p>
-
- <p>The search and bind cache is controlled with the <directive
- module="mod_ldap">LDAPCacheEntries</directive> and <directive
- module="mod_ldap">LDAPCacheTTL</directive> directives.</p>
- </section>
-
- <section id="opcaches"><title>Operation Caches</title>
- <p>During attribute and distinguished name comparison
- functions, <module>mod_ldap</module> uses two operation caches
- to cache the compare operations. The first compare cache is
- used to cache the results of compares done to test for LDAP
- group membership. The second compare cache is used to cache
- the results of comparisons done between distinguished
- names.</p>
-
- <p>The behavior of both of these caches is controlled with
- the <directive module="mod_ldap">LDAPOpCacheEntries</directive>
- and <directive module="mod_ldap">LDAPOpCacheTTL</directive>
- directives.</p>
- </section>
-
- <section id="monitoring"><title>Monitoring the Cache</title>
- <p><module>mod_ldap</module> has a content handler that allows
- administrators to monitor the cache performance. The name of
- the content handler is <code>ldap-status</code>, so the
- following directives could be used to access the
- <module>mod_ldap</module> cache information:</p>
-
- <example>
- <Location /server/cache-info><br />
- <indent>
- SetHandler ldap-status<br />
- </indent>
- </Location>
- </example>
-
- <p>By fetching the URL <code>http://servername/cache-info</code>,
- the administrator can get a status report of every cache that is used
- by <module>mod_ldap</module> cache. Note that if Apache does not
- support shared memory, then each <code>httpd</code> instance has its
- own cache, so reloading the URL will result in different
- information each time, depending on which <code>httpd</code>
- instance processes the request.</p>
- </section>
- </section>
-
- <section id="usingssltls"><title>Using SSL</title>
-
- <p>The ability to create an SSL connections to an LDAP server
- is defined by the directives <directive module="mod_ldap">
- LDAPTrustedCA</directive> and <directive module="mod_ldap">
- LDAPTrustedCAType</directive>. These directives specify the certificate
- file or database and the certificate type. Whenever the LDAP url
- includes <em>ldaps://</em>, <module>mod_ldap</module> will establish
- a secure connection to the LDAP server.</p>
-
- <example>
- # Establish an SSL LDAP connection. Requires that <br />
- # mod_ldap and mod_auth_ldap be loaded. Change the <br />
- # "yourdomain.example.com" to match your domain.<br />
- <br />
- LDAPTrustedCA /certs/certfile.der<br />
- LDAPTrustedCAType DER_FILE<br />
- <br />
- <Location /ldap-status><br />
- <indent>
- SetHandler ldap-status<br />
- Order deny,allow<br />
- Deny from all<br />
- Allow from yourdomain.example.com<br />
- AuthLDAPEnabled on<br />
- AuthLDAPURL ldaps://127.0.0.1/dc=example,dc=com?uid?one<br />
- AuthLDAPAuthoritative on<br />
- require valid-user<br />
- </indent>
- </Location>
- </example>
-
- <p>If <module>mod_ldap</module> is linked against the
- Netscape/iPlanet LDAP SDK, it will not talk to any SSL server
- unless that server has a certificate signed by a known Certificate
- Authority. As part of the configuration
- <module>mod_ldap</module> needs to be told where it can find
- a database containing the known CAs. This database is in the same
- format as Netscape Communicator's <code>cert7.db</code>
- database. The easiest way to get this file is to start up a fresh
- copy of Netscape, and grab the resulting
- <code>$HOME/.netscape/cert7.db</code> file.</p>
-
- </section>
-
- <directivesynopsis>
- <name>LDAPSharedCacheSize</name>
- <description>Size in bytes of the shared-memory cache</description>
- <syntax>LDAPSharedCacheSize <var>bytes</var></syntax>
- <default>LDAPSharedCacheSize 102400</default>
- <contextlist><context>server config</context></contextlist>
-
- <usage>
- <p>Specifies the number of bytes to allocate for the shared
- memory cache. The default is 100kb. If set to 0, shared memory
- caching will not be used.</p>
- </usage>
- </directivesynopsis>
-
- <directivesynopsis>
- <name>LDAPSharedCacheFile</name>
- <description>Sets the shared memory cache file</description>
- <syntax>LDAPSharedCacheFile <var>directory-path/filename</var></syntax>
- <contextlist><context>server config</context></contextlist>
-
- <usage>
- <p>Specifies the directory path and file name of the shared memory
- cache file. If not set, anonymous shared memory will be used if the
- platform supports it.</p>
- </usage>
- </directivesynopsis>
-
- <directivesynopsis>
- <name>LDAPCacheEntries</name>
- <description>Maximum number of entries in the primary LDAP cache</description>
- <syntax>LDAPCacheEntries <var>number</var></syntax>
- <default>LDAPCacheEntries 1024</default>
- <contextlist><context>server config</context></contextlist>
-
- <usage>
- <p>Specifies the maximum size of the primary LDAP cache. This
- cache contains successful search/binds. Set it to 0 to turn off
- search/bind caching. The default size is 1024 cached
- searches.</p>
- </usage>
- </directivesynopsis>
-
- <directivesynopsis>
- <name>LDAPCacheTTL</name>
- <description>Time that cached items remain valid</description>
- <syntax>LDAPCacheTTL <var>seconds</var></syntax>
- <default>LDAPCacheTTL 600</default>
- <contextlist><context>server config</context></contextlist>
-
- <usage>
- <p>Specifies the time (in seconds) that an item in the
- search/bind cache remains valid. The default is 600 seconds (10
- minutes).</p>
- </usage>
- </directivesynopsis>
-
- <directivesynopsis>
- <name>LDAPOpCacheEntries</name>
- <description>Number of entries used to cache LDAP compare
- operations</description>
- <syntax>LDAPOpCacheEntries <var>number</var></syntax>
- <default>LDAPOpCacheEntries 1024</default>
- <contextlist><context>server config</context></contextlist>
-
- <usage>
- <p>This specifies the number of entries <module>mod_ldap</module>
- will use to cache LDAP compare operations. The default is 1024
- entries. Setting it to 0 disables operation caching.</p>
- </usage>
- </directivesynopsis>
-
- <directivesynopsis>
- <name>LDAPOpCacheTTL</name>
- <description>Time that entries in the operation cache remain
- valid</description>
- <syntax>LDAPOpCacheTTL <var>seconds</var></syntax>
- <default>LDAPOpCacheTTL 600</default>
- <contextlist><context>server config</context></contextlist>
-
- <usage>
- <p>Specifies the time (in seconds) that entries in the
- operation cache remain valid. The default is 600 seconds.</p>
- </usage>
- </directivesynopsis>
-
- <directivesynopsis>
- <name>LDAPTrustedCA</name>
- <description>Sets the file containing the trusted Certificate Authority certificate or database</description>
- <syntax>LDAPTrustedCA <var>directory-path/filename</var></syntax>
- <contextlist><context>server config</context></contextlist>
-
- <usage>
- <p>It specifies the directory path and file name of the trusted CA
- <module>mod_ldap</module> should use when establishing an SSL
- connection to an LDAP server. If using the Netscape/iPlanet Directory
- SDK, the file name should be <code>cert7.db</code>.</p>
- </usage>
- </directivesynopsis>
-
- <directivesynopsis>
- <name>LDAPTrustedCAType</name>
- <description>Specifies the type of the Certificate Authority file</description>
- <syntax>LDAPTrustedCAType <var>type</var></syntax>
- <contextlist><context>server config</context></contextlist>
-
- <usage>
- <p>The following types are supported:<br />
- DER_FILE - file in binary DER format<br />
- BASE64_FILE - file in Base64 format<br />
- CERT7_DB_PATH - Netscape certificate database file ")</p>
- </usage>
- </directivesynopsis>
-
- </modulesynopsis>
-