summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/source4/ldap_server/devdocs/rfc4516.txt
blob: 6de1e1d08ae66579b05fcc0c4409d34259cb107f (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843






Network Working Group                                      M. Smith, Ed.
Request for Comments: 4516                           Pearl Crescent, LLC
Obsoletes: 2255                                                 T. Howes
Category: Standards Track                                  Opsware, Inc.
                                                               June 2006


             Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP):
                        Uniform Resource Locator

Status of This Memo

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

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).

Abstract

   This document describes a format for a Lightweight Directory Access
   Protocol (LDAP) Uniform Resource Locator (URL).  An LDAP URL
   describes an LDAP search operation that is used to retrieve
   information from an LDAP directory, or, in the context of an LDAP
   referral or reference, an LDAP URL describes a service where an LDAP
   operation may be progressed.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
   2. URL Definition ..................................................2
      2.1. Percent-Encoding ...........................................4
   3. Defaults for Fields of the LDAP URL .............................5
   4. Examples ........................................................6
   5. Security Considerations .........................................8
   6. Normative References ............................................9
   7. Informative References .........................................10
   8. Acknowledgements ...............................................10
   Appendix A: Changes Since RFC 2255 ................................11
      A.1. Technical Changes .........................................11
      A.2. Editorial Changes .........................................11






Smith & Howes               Standards Track                     [Page 1]

RFC 4516             LDAP: Uniform Resource Locator            June 2006


1.  Introduction

   LDAP is the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol [RFC4510].  This
   document specifies the LDAP URL format for version 3 of LDAP and
   clarifies how LDAP URLs are resolved.  This document also defines an
   extension mechanism for LDAP URLs.  This mechanism may be used to
   provide access to new LDAP extensions.

   Note that not all the parameters of the LDAP search operation
   described in [RFC4511] can be expressed using the format defined in
   this document.  Note also that URLs may be used to represent
   reference knowledge, including that for non-search operations.

   This document is an integral part of the LDAP technical specification
   [RFC4510], which obsoletes the previously defined LDAP technical
   specification, RFC 3377, in its entirety.

   This document replaces RFC 2255.  See Appendix A for a list of
   changes relative to RFC 2255.

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119].

2.  URL Definition

   An LDAP URL begins with the protocol prefix "ldap" and is defined by
   the following grammar, following the ABNF notation defined in
   [RFC4234].

      ldapurl     = scheme COLON SLASH SLASH [host [COLON port]]
                       [SLASH dn [QUESTION [attributes]
                       [QUESTION [scope] [QUESTION [filter]
                       [QUESTION extensions]]]]]
                                      ; <host> and <port> are defined
                                      ;   in Sections 3.2.2 and 3.2.3
                                      ;   of [RFC3986].
                                      ; <filter> is from Section 3 of
                                      ;   [RFC4515], subject to the
                                      ;   provisions of the
                                      ;   "Percent-Encoding" section
                                      ;   below.

      scheme      = "ldap"







Smith & Howes               Standards Track                     [Page 2]

RFC 4516             LDAP: Uniform Resource Locator            June 2006


      dn          = distinguishedName ; From Section 3 of [RFC4514],
                                      ; subject to the provisions of
                                      ; the "Percent-Encoding"
                                      ; section below.

      attributes  = attrdesc *(COMMA attrdesc)
      attrdesc    = selector *(COMMA selector)
      selector    = attributeSelector ; From Section 4.5.1 of
                                      ; [RFC4511], subject to the
                                      ; provisions of the
                                      ; "Percent-Encoding" section
                                      ; below.

      scope       = "base" / "one" / "sub"
      extensions  = extension *(COMMA extension)
      extension   = [EXCLAMATION] extype [EQUALS exvalue]
      extype      = oid               ; From section 1.4 of [RFC4512].

      exvalue     = LDAPString        ; From section 4.1.2 of
                                      ; [RFC4511], subject to the
                                      ; provisions of the
                                      ; "Percent-Encoding" section
                                      ; below.

      EXCLAMATION = %x21              ; exclamation mark ("!")
      SLASH       = %x2F              ; forward slash ("/")
      COLON       = %x3A              ; colon (":")
      QUESTION    = %x3F              ; question mark ("?")

   The "ldap" prefix indicates an entry or entries accessible from the
   LDAP server running on the given hostname at the given portnumber.
   Note that the <host> may contain literal IPv6 addresses as specified
   in Section 3.2.2 of [RFC3986].

   The <dn> is an LDAP Distinguished Name using the string format
   described in [RFC4514].  It identifies the base object of the LDAP
   search or the target of a non-search operation.

   The <attributes> construct is used to indicate which attributes
   should be returned from the entry or entries.

   The <scope> construct is used to specify the scope of the search to
   perform in the given LDAP server.  The allowable scopes are "base"
   for a base object search, "one" for a one-level search, or "sub" for
   a subtree search.






Smith & Howes               Standards Track                     [Page 3]

RFC 4516             LDAP: Uniform Resource Locator            June 2006


   The <filter> is used to specify the search filter to apply to entries
   within the specified scope during the search.  It has the format
   specified in [RFC4515].

   The <extensions> construct provides the LDAP URL with an
   extensibility mechanism, allowing the capabilities of the URL to be
   extended in the future.  Extensions are a simple comma-separated list
   of type=value pairs, where the =value portion MAY be omitted for
   options not requiring it.  Each type=value pair is a separate
   extension.  These LDAP URL extensions are not necessarily related to
   any of the LDAP extension mechanisms.  Extensions may be supported or
   unsupported by the client resolving the URL.  An extension prefixed
   with a '!' character (ASCII 0x21) is critical.  An extension not
   prefixed with a '!' character is non-critical.

   If an LDAP URL extension is implemented (that is, if the
   implementation understands it and is able to use it), the
   implementation MUST make use of it.  If an extension is not
   implemented and is marked critical, the implementation MUST NOT
   process the URL.  If an extension is not implemented and is not
   marked critical, the implementation MUST ignore the extension.

   The extension type (<extype>) MAY be specified using the numeric OID
   <numericoid> form (e.g., 1.2.3.4) or the descriptor <descr> form
   (e.g., myLDAPURLExtension).  Use of the <descr> form SHOULD be
   restricted to registered object identifier descriptive names.  See
   [RFC4520] for registration details and usage guidelines for
   descriptive names.

   No LDAP URL extensions are defined in this document.  Other documents
   or a future version of this document MAY define one or more
   extensions.

2.1.  Percent-Encoding

   A generated LDAP URL MUST consist only of the restricted set of
   characters included in one of the following three productions defined
   in [RFC3986]:

         <reserved>
         <unreserved>
         <pct-encoded>

   Implementations SHOULD accept other valid UTF-8 strings [RFC3629] as
   input.  An octet MUST be encoded using the percent-encoding mechanism
   described in section 2.1 of [RFC3986] in any of these situations:





Smith & Howes               Standards Track                     [Page 4]

RFC 4516             LDAP: Uniform Resource Locator            June 2006


      The octet is not in the reserved set defined in section 2.2 of
      [RFC3986] or in the unreserved set defined in section 2.3 of
      [RFC3986].

      It is the single Reserved character '?' and occurs inside a <dn>,
      <filter>, or other element of an LDAP URL.

      It is a comma character ',' that occurs inside an <exvalue>.

   Note that before the percent-encoding mechanism is applied, the
   extensions component of the LDAP URL may contain one or more null
   (zero) bytes.  No other component may.

3.  Defaults for Fields of the LDAP URL

   Some fields of the LDAP URL are optional, as described above.  In the
   absence of any other specification, the following general defaults
   SHOULD be used when a field is absent.  Note that other documents MAY
   specify different defaulting rules; for example, section 4.1.10 of
   [RFC4511] specifies a different rule for determining the correct DN
   to use when it is absent in an LDAP URL that is returned as a
   referral.

   <host>
      If no <host> is given, the client must have some a priori
      knowledge of an appropriate LDAP server to contact.

   <port>
      The default LDAP port is TCP port 389.

   <dn>
      If no <dn> is given, the default is the zero-length DN, "".

   <attributes>
      If the <attributes> part is omitted, all user attributes of the
      entry or entries should be requested (e.g., by setting the
      attributes field AttributeDescriptionList in the LDAP search
      request to a NULL list, or by using the special <alluserattrs>
      selector "*").

   <scope>
      If <scope> is omitted, a <scope> of "base" is assumed.

   <filter>
      If <filter> is omitted, a filter of "(objectClass=*)" is assumed.

   <extensions>
      If <extensions> is omitted, no extensions are assumed.



Smith & Howes               Standards Track                     [Page 5]

RFC 4516             LDAP: Uniform Resource Locator            June 2006


4.  Examples

   The following are some example LDAP URLs that use the format defined
   above.  The first example is an LDAP URL referring to the University
   of Michigan entry, available from an LDAP server of the client's
   choosing:

      ldap:///o=University%20of%20Michigan,c=US

   The next example is an LDAP URL referring to the University of
   Michigan entry in a particular ldap server:

      ldap://ldap1.example.net/o=University%20of%20Michigan,c=US

   Both of these URLs correspond to a base object search of the
   "o=University of Michigan,c=US" entry using a filter of
   "(objectclass=*)", requesting all attributes.

   The next example is an LDAP URL referring to only the postalAddress
   attribute of the University of Michigan entry:

      ldap://ldap1.example.net/o=University%20of%20Michigan,
             c=US?postalAddress

   The corresponding LDAP search operation is the same as in the
   previous example, except that only the postalAddress attribute is
   requested.

   The next example is an LDAP URL referring to the set of entries found
   by querying the given LDAP server on port 6666 and doing a subtree
   search of the University of Michigan for any entry with a common name
   of "Babs Jensen", retrieving all attributes:

      ldap://ldap1.example.net:6666/o=University%20of%20Michigan,
             c=US??sub?(cn=Babs%20Jensen)

   The next example is an LDAP URL referring to all children of the c=GB
   entry:

      LDAP://ldap1.example.com/c=GB?objectClass?ONE

   The objectClass attribute is requested to be returned along with the
   entries, and the default filter of "(objectclass=*)" is used.

   The next example is an LDAP URL to retrieve the mail attribute for
   the LDAP entry named "o=Question?,c=US", illustrating the use of the
   percent-encoding mechanism on the reserved character '?'.




Smith & Howes               Standards Track                     [Page 6]

RFC 4516             LDAP: Uniform Resource Locator            June 2006


      ldap://ldap2.example.com/o=Question%3f,c=US?mail

   The next example (which is broken into two lines for readability)
   illustrates the interaction between the LDAP string representation of
   the filters-quoting mechanism and the URL-quoting mechanisms.

      ldap://ldap3.example.com/o=Babsco,c=US
              ???(four-octet=%5c00%5c00%5c00%5c04)

   The filter in this example uses the LDAP escaping mechanism of \ to
   encode three zero or null bytes in the value.  In LDAP, the filter
   would be written as (four-octet=\00\00\00\04).  Because the \
   character must be escaped in a URL, the \s are percent-encoded as %5c
   (or %5C) in the URL encoding.

   The next example illustrates the interaction between the LDAP string
   representation of the DNs-quoting mechanism and URL-quoting
   mechanisms.

      ldap://ldap.example.com/o=An%20Example%5C2C%20Inc.,c=US

   The DN encoded in the above URL is:

      o=An Example\2C Inc.,c=US

   That is, the left-most RDN value is:

      An Example, Inc.

   The following three URLs are equivalent, assuming that the defaulting
   rules specified in Section 3 of this document are used:

      ldap://ldap.example.net
      ldap://ldap.example.net/
      ldap://ldap.example.net/?

   These three URLs point to the root DSE on the ldap.example.net
   server.

   The final two examples show use of a hypothetical, experimental bind
   name extension (the value associated with the extension is an LDAP
   DN).

      ldap:///??sub??e-bindname=cn=Manager%2cdc=example%2cdc=com
      ldap:///??sub??!e-bindname=cn=Manager%2cdc=example%2cdc=com






Smith & Howes               Standards Track                     [Page 7]

RFC 4516             LDAP: Uniform Resource Locator            June 2006


   The two URLs are the same, except that the second one marks the
   e-bindname extension as critical.  Notice the use of the percent-
   encoding mechanism to encode the commas within the distinguished name
   value in the e-bindname extension.

5.  Security Considerations

   The general URL security considerations discussed in [RFC3986] are
   relevant for LDAP URLs.

   The use of security mechanisms when processing LDAP URLs requires
   particular care, since clients may encounter many different servers
   via URLs, and since URLs are likely to be processed automatically,
   without user intervention.  A client SHOULD have a user-configurable
   policy that controls which servers the client will establish LDAP
   sessions with and with which security mechanisms, and SHOULD NOT
   establish LDAP sessions that are inconsistent with this policy.  If a
   client chooses to reuse an existing LDAP session when resolving one
   or more LDAP URLs, it MUST ensure that the session is compatible with
   the URL and that no security policies are violated.

   Sending authentication information, no matter the mechanism, may
   violate a user's privacy requirements.  In the absence of specific
   policy permitting authentication information to be sent to a server,
   a client should use an anonymous LDAP session.  (Note that clients
   conforming to previous LDAP URL specifications, where all LDAP
   sessions are anonymous and unprotected, are consistent with this
   specification; they simply have the default security policy.)  Simply
   opening a transport connection to another server may violate some
   users' privacy requirements, so clients should provide the user with
   a way to control URL processing.

   Some authentication methods, in particular, reusable passwords sent
   to the server, may reveal easily-abused information to the remote
   server or to eavesdroppers in transit and should not be used in URL
   processing unless they are explicitly permitted by policy.
   Confirmation by the human user of the use of authentication
   information is appropriate in many circumstances.  Use of strong
   authentication methods that do not reveal sensitive information is
   much preferred.  If the URL represents a referral for an update
   operation, strong authentication methods SHOULD be used.  Please
   refer to the Security Considerations section of [RFC4513] for more
   information.

   The LDAP URL format allows the specification of an arbitrary LDAP
   search operation to be performed when evaluating the LDAP URL.
   Following an LDAP URL may cause unexpected results, for example, the
   retrieval of large amounts of data or the initiation of a long-lived



Smith & Howes               Standards Track                     [Page 8]

RFC 4516             LDAP: Uniform Resource Locator            June 2006


   search.  The security implications of resolving an LDAP URL are the
   same as those of resolving an LDAP search query.

6.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [RFC3629]  Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO
              10646", STD 63, RFC 3629, November 2003.

   [RFC3986]  Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
              Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66, RFC
              3986, January 2005.

   [RFC4234]  Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
              Specifications: ABNF", RFC 4234, October 2005.

   [RFC4510]  Zeilenga, K., Ed., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
              (LDAP): Technical Specification Road Map", RFC 4510, June
              2006.

   [RFC4511]  Sermersheim, J., Ed., "Lightweight Directory Access
              Protocol (LDAP): The Protocol", RFC 4511, June 2006.

   [RFC4512]  Zeilenga, K., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
              (LDAP): Directory Information Models", RFC 4512, June
              2006.

   [RFC4513]  Harrison, R., Ed., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
              (LDAP): Authentication Methods and Security Mechanisms",
              RFC 4513, June 2006.

   [RFC4514]  Zeilenga, K., Ed., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
              (LDAP): String Representation of Distinguished Names", RFC
              4514, June 2006.

   [RFC4515]  Smith, M. Ed. and T. Howes, "Lightweight Directory Access
              Protocol (LDAP): String Representation of Search Filters",
              RFC 4515, June 2006.











Smith & Howes               Standards Track                     [Page 9]

RFC 4516             LDAP: Uniform Resource Locator            June 2006


7.  Informative References

   [RFC2396]  Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
              Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax", RFC 2396,
              August 1998.

   [RFC4520]  Zeilenga, K., "Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
              Considerations for the Lightweight Directory Access
              Protocol (LDAP)", BCP 64, RFC 4520, June 2006.

8.  Acknowledgements

   The LDAP URL format was originally defined at the University of
   Michigan.  This material is based upon work supported by the National
   Science Foundation under Grant No. NCR-9416667.  The support of both
   the University of Michigan and the National Science Foundation is
   gratefully acknowledged.

   This document obsoletes RFC 2255 by Tim Howes and Mark Smith.
   Changes included in this revised specification are based upon
   discussions among the authors, discussions within the LDAP (v3)
   Revision Working Group (ldapbis), and discussions within other IETF
   Working Groups.  The contributions of individuals in these working
   groups is gratefully acknowledged.  Several people in particular have
   made valuable comments on this document: RL "Bob" Morgan, Mark Wahl,
   Kurt Zeilenga, Jim Sermersheim, and Hallvard Furuseth deserve special
   thanks for their contributions.
























Smith & Howes               Standards Track                    [Page 10]

RFC 4516             LDAP: Uniform Resource Locator            June 2006


Appendix A: Changes Since RFC 2255

A.1.  Technical Changes

   The following technical changes were made to the contents of the "URL
   Definition" section:

   Revised all of the ABNF to use common productions from [RFC4512].

   Replaced references to [RFC2396] with a reference to [RFC3986] (this
   allows literal IPv6 addresses to be used inside the <host> portion of
   the URL, and a note was added to remind the reader of this
   enhancement).  Referencing [RFC3986] required changes to the ABNF and
   text so that productions that are no longer defined by [RFC3986] are
   not used.  For example, <hostport> is not defined by [RFC3986] so it
   has been replaced with host [COLON port].  Note that [RFC3986]
   includes new definitions for the "Reserved" and "Unreserved" sets of
   characters, and the net result is that the following two additional
   characters should be percent-encoded when they appear anywhere in the
   data used to construct an LDAP URL: "[" and "]" (these two characters
   were first added to the Reserved set by RFC 2732).

   Changed the definition of <attrdesc> to refer to <attributeSelector>
   from [RFC4511].  This allows the use of "*" in the <attrdesc> part of
   the URL.  It is believed that existing implementations of RFC 2255
   already support this.

   Avoided use of <prose-val> (bracketed-string) productions in the
   <dn>, <host>, <attrdesc>, and <exvalue> rules.

   Changed the ABNF for <ldapurl> to group the <dn> component with the
   preceding <SLASH>.

   Changed the <extype> rule to be an <oid> from [RFC4512].

   Changed the text about extension types so it references [RFC4520].
   Reordered rules to more closely follow the order in which the
   elements appear in the URL.

   "Bindname Extension": removed due to lack of known implementations.

A.2.  Editorial Changes

   Changed document title to include "LDAP:" prefix.

   IESG Note: removed note about lack of satisfactory mandatory
   authentication mechanisms.




Smith & Howes               Standards Track                    [Page 11]

RFC 4516             LDAP: Uniform Resource Locator            June 2006


   "Status of this Memo" section: updated boilerplate to match current
   I-D guidelines.

   "Abstract" section: separated from introductory material.

   "Table of Contents" and "Intellectual Property" sections: added.

   "Introduction" section: new section; separated from the Abstract.
   Changed the text indicate that RFC 2255 is replaced by this document
   (instead of RFC 1959).  Added text to indicate that LDAP URLs are
   used for references and referrals.  Fixed typo (replaced the nonsense
   phrase "to perform to retrieve" with "used to retrieve").  Added a
   note to let the reader know that not all of the parameters of the
   LDAP search operation described in [RFC4511] can be expressed using
   this format.

   "URL Definition" section: removed second copy of <ldapurl> grammar
   and following two paragraphs (editorial error in RFC 2255).  Fixed
   line break within '!' sequence.  Reformatted the ABNF to improve
   readability by aligning comments and adding some blank lines.
   Replaced "residing in the LDAP server" with "accessible from the LDAP
   server" in the sentence immediately following the ABNF.  Removed the
   sentence "Individual attrdesc names are as defined for
   AttributeDescription in [RFC4511]."  because [RFC4511]'s
   <attributeSelector> is now used directly in the ABNF.  Reworded last
   paragraph to clarify which characters must be percent-encoded.  Added
   text to indicate that LDAP URLs are used for references and
   referrals.  Added text that refers to the ABNF from RFC 4234.
   Clarified and strengthened the requirements with respect to
   processing of URLs that contain implemented and not implemented
   extensions (the approach now closely matches that specified in
   [RFC4511] for LDAP controls).

   "Defaults for Fields of the LDAP URL" section: added; formed by
   moving text about defaults out of the "URL Definition" section.
   Replaced direct reference to the attribute name "*" with a reference
   to the special <alluserattrs> selector "*" defined in [RFC4511].

   "URL Processing" section: removed.

   "Examples" section: Modified examples to use example.com and
   example.net hostnames.  Added missing '?' to the LDAP URL example
   whose filter contains three null bytes.  Removed space after one
   comma within a DN.  Revised the bindname example to use e-bindname.
   Changed the name of an attribute used in one example from "int" to
   "four-octet" to avoid potential confusion.  Added an example that
   demonstrates the interaction between DN escaping and URL percent-
   encoding.  Added some examples to show URL equivalence with respect



Smith & Howes               Standards Track                    [Page 12]

RFC 4516             LDAP: Uniform Resource Locator            June 2006


   to the <dn> portion of the URL.  Used uppercase in some examples to
   remind the reader that some tokens are case-insensitive.

   "Security Considerations" section: Added a note about connection
   reuse.  Added a note about using strong authentication methods for
   updates.  Added a reference to [RFC4513].  Added note that simply
   opening a connection may violate some users' privacy requirements.
   Adopted the working group's revised LDAP terminology specification by
   replacing the word "connection" with "LDAP session" or "LDAP
   connection" as appropriate.

   "Acknowledgements" section: added statement that this document
   obsoletes RFC 2255.  Added Kurt Zeilenga, Jim Sermersheim, and
   Hallvard Furuseth.

   "Normative References" section: renamed from "References" per new RFC
   guidelines.  Changed from [1] style to [RFC4511] style throughout the
   document.  Added references to RFC 4234 and RFC 3629.  Updated all
   RFC 1738 references to point to the appropriate sections within
   [RFC3986].  Updated the LDAP references to refer to LDAPBis WG
   documents.  Removed the reference to the LDAP Attribute Syntaxes
   document and added references to the [RFC4513], [RFC4520], and
   [RFC4510] documents.

   "Informative References" section: added.

   Header and "Authors' Addresses" sections: added "editor" next to Mark
   Smith's name.  Updated affiliation and contact information.

   Copyright: updated the year.

   Throughout the document: surrounded the names of all ABNF productions
   with "<" and ">" where they are used in descriptive text.


















Smith & Howes               Standards Track                    [Page 13]

RFC 4516             LDAP: Uniform Resource Locator            June 2006


Authors' Addresses

   Mark Smith, Editor
   Pearl Crescent, LLC
   447 Marlpool Dr.
   Saline, MI 48176
   USA

   Phone: +1 734 944-2856
   EMail: mcs@pearlcrescent.com


   Tim Howes
   Opsware, Inc.
   599 N. Mathilda Ave.
   Sunnyvale, CA 94085
   USA

   Phone: +1 408 744-7509
   EMail: howes@opsware.com































Smith & Howes               Standards Track                    [Page 14]

RFC 4516             LDAP: Uniform Resource Locator            June 2006


Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).

   This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
   contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
   retain all their rights.

   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
   OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
   ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
   INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
   INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Intellectual Property

   The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
   Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
   pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
   this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
   might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
   made any independent effort to identify any such rights.  Information
   on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
   found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
   such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
   http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
   copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
   rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
   this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF at
   ietf-ipr@ietf.org.

Acknowledgement

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF
   Administrative Support Activity (IASA).







Smith & Howes               Standards Track                    [Page 15]