[Pc_Support] offtopic / database schema -- COSINE/X.500 and modern LDAP schema ...

[Bryan J. Smith]

First off, if you want a "short list," then IETF RFC2218 is a dated, but
"good start" as it defines "dumb strings" for various, recommended
records based on existing X.500/LDAP Pilot schema of the time:  
  http://www.apps.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2218.html  

   --General Attributes --
        
                 Field Name             Size         Syntax
        
                 Email                   360         Mailbox
                 Cert                   4000         Certificate
                 Home Page               128         URI
                 Common Name              64         WhitepageString
                 Given Name               48         WhitepageString
                 Surname                  48         WhitepageString
                 Organization             64         WhitepageString
                 Locality                 20         WhitepageString
                 Country                   2         WhitepageString (ISO 3166)
                 Language Spoken         128         WhitepageString (RFC 1766)
        
           --Personal Attributes
        
                 Personal Phone           30         PrintableString
                 Personal Fax             30         PrintableString
                 Personal Mobile Phone    30         PrintableString
                 Personal Pager Number    30         PrintableString
                 Personal Postal Address 255         Address
                 Description             255         WhitepageString
        
           --Organizational Attributes
        
                 Title                    64         WhitepageString
                 Office Phone             30         PrintableString
                 Office Fax               30         PrintableString
                 Office Mobile Phone      30         PrintableString
                 Office Pager             30         PrintableString
                 Office Postal Address   255         Address
        
           --Ancillary
        
                 Creation Date            24         GeneralizedTime
                 Creator Name            255         URI
                 Modified Date            24         GeneralizedTime
                 Modifier Name           255         URI

I don't know how well it maps to modern LDAP but, and it definitely is
_not_ an efficient, binary record solution, but it's a "good start."

In the early days of X.500 directory implementations/adoption, COSINE
was a pilot set of schema for various, basic tables and logic.  This was
before LDAP was postured and the Pilot schema is covered in IETF
RFC1274:  
  http://www.apps.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1274.html  

The more "modern" implementation used by most LDAP solutions today comes
from IETF RFC2256:  
  http://www.apps.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2256.html  

And a focus on the schema for an "Internet Person" in IETF RFC2798:  
  http://www.apps.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2798.html  

These IETF RFCs are fairly "tough to chew" with a lot of coverage of
various attributes, logic, hierarchy, etc... right down to the explicit
OID references.  But RFC they are heavily influenced by the best
enterprise LDAP solution by the late '90s (yes, _before_ ADS ;-),
Netscape Directory Server.

The Sun One documentation (based on Netscape Directory Server) does a
good job of introducing the basic records you want on the top half of
this page:  
  http://docs.sun.com/source/816-6699-10/schemaov.html  

If you really want to dive into modern Netscape Directory Server, Red
Hat's documentation on Red Hat Directory Server 7.1 (which _is_ Netscape
Directory Server) has the full schema here:  
  http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/dir-server/schema/7.1/schemaTOC.html  

How far you want to go is up to you.
I think 2218 gives you a good list to start.

If you want more records, then follow RFC2256/RFC2798, referencing the
RHDS 7.1 docs for better explanations.

-- 
Bryan J. Smith          Professional, technical annoyance
mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org    http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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