 |
Plug-in
Programmer's Guide Netscape Directory Server |
| Previous |
Contents |
Index |
DocHome | Next |
Preface
This book describes how to write server plug-ins in order to customize and extend the capabilities of the Netscape Directory Server (Directory Server).
- What You Should Already Know
- Using Directory Server Plug-in APIs
- Document Conventions
- Where to Find Directory Server Information
This book assumes you have this basic background:
- A general
understanding of the Internet
and the World Wide Web (WWW).
- A general
understanding of the
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and the Directory Server.
This book does not duplicate basic information on server administration
or LDAP concepts. For such information, refer to the documents listed
in Where to Find Directory
Server Information.
- Programming experience in C or C++.
- When you install
Directory Server, the
plug-in related files are placed in this directory:
<server_root>/plugins/slapd/slapi/
- The main header file
is located here:
<server_root>/plugins/slapd/slapi/include/slapi-plugin.h
- The location and
syntax for the plug-in
directives have changed. In the Directory Server 4.x release, the plugin
directives were in the database section of the slapd.ldbm.conf
file. In this release of Directory Server, you must add your plugin
directives to the dse.ldif
file, which is located in the
<server_root>/slapd-<instance_id>/config
directory. For guidelines, refer to the Readme file
located in
<server_root>/plugins/slapd/slapi/examples/.
- Database plug-ins are
not supported in
this version of Directory Server. Be sure to use the pre-operation,
post-operation, and/or extended operation API to register plug-in
functions. Note that some code examples in this book are yet to be
updated to reflect this change.
- To comply with Internet Protocol version 6, Directory Server plug-ins can now use the SLAPI_CONN_CLIENTEDADDR and SLAPI_CONNSERVERADDR parameters to allow plug-ins to recognize the IP address of the LDAP client and server. These new parameters use the Netscape Portable Runtime (NSPR) PRNetADDr structure for storing the IP addresses. Because of this, the NSPR files are shipped with Directory Server.
The NSPR API allows compliant applications to use system facilities such as threads, thread synchronization, I/O, interval timing, atomic operations, and several other low-level services in a platform-independent manner.
- Several functions
have been deprecated in
this release of the Directory Server Plug-in API. The deprecated
functions are still supported for backward compatibility. They are,
however, not documented in this release. The table below lists the
deprecated functions and the functions you should use in their place.
If you need additional information on functions that have been
deprecated, check this file:
<server_root>/plugins/slapd/slapi/include/slapi-plugin-compat4.h
The Directory Server runs on Windows NT and a number of different UNIX platforms; the information here applies to all versions. File and directory paths are given in UNIX format (with forward slashes separating directory names). For Windows versions, the directory paths are the same, except that you use backslashes instead of slashes to separate directories.
This book uses Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) of the form
In these URLs, <server> represents the name of the server on which you run your application (such as research1 or www), <domain> represents your Internet domain name (such as example.com), <path> represents the directory structure on the server, and <file>.html represents an individual filename.
If your server has Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) enabled, you would use https instead of http in the URL.
This book uses the following font conventions:
- The monospace font
is used for sample code and code listings, API and language elements
(such as function names and class names), filenames, pathnames,
directory names, HTML tags, and any text that must be typed on the
screen.
- Italic
type
is used for book titles, emphasis, placeholders, and words used in the
literal sense.
- Variables are
enclosed in angle brackets.
- Boldface type is used for glossary terms.
This book explains how to write your own server plug-ins to customize the Directory Server. You can write plug-ins that validate data before the data is stored in the directory, that notify users when data has changed, or that replace the standard database in the Directory Server with your own database.
The document set for Directory Server also contains the following guides:
- Netscape Directory
Server Deployment Guide. Contains procedures for the
day-to-day
maintenance of your directory service. Includes information on
configuring server-side plug-ins.
- Netscape Directory
Server Installation Guide. Contains procedures for installing
your
Directory Server as well as procedures for migrating from a previous
installation of Directory Server.
- Netscape Directory
Server Administrator's Guide. Contains procedures for the
day-to-day maintenance of your directory service. Includes information
on configuring server-side plug-ins.
- Netscape
Directory
Server Configuration, Command, and File Reference.
Contains
information about using the command-line scripts shipped with Directory
Server.
- Netscape Directory
Server Schema Reference. Contains information about the
Directory
Server schema.
- Netscape Directory
Server Gateway Customization Guide. Introduces Directory
Server
Gateway and explains how to implement a gateway instance with basic
directory look-up functionality. Also contains information useful for
implementing a more powerful gateway instance with directory
authentication and administration capability.
For a list of documentation installed with Directory Server, open the <server_root>/manual/en/slapd/index.htm file, where <server_root> is the directory in which you installed Directory Server.
For the latest information about Directory Server, including current release notes, complete product documentation, technical notes, and deployment information, check this site:
For a list of LDAP standards-related documents, check this site: