<pre>Network Working Group                                      M. Smith, Ed.
Request for Comments: 4516                           Pearl Crescent, LLC
Obsoletes: <a href="./rfc2255">2255</a>                                                 T. Howes
Category: Standards Track                                  Opsware, Inc.
                                                               June 2006


             <span class="h1">Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP):</span>
                        <span class="h1">Uniform Resource Locator</span>

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

   <a href="#section-1">1</a>. Introduction ....................................................<a href="#page-2">2</a>
   <a href="#section-2">2</a>. URL Definition ..................................................<a href="#page-2">2</a>
      <a href="#section-2.1">2.1</a>. Percent-Encoding ...........................................<a href="#page-4">4</a>
   <a href="#section-3">3</a>. Defaults for Fields of the LDAP URL .............................<a href="#page-5">5</a>
   <a href="#section-4">4</a>. Examples ........................................................<a href="#page-6">6</a>
   <a href="#section-5">5</a>. Security Considerations .........................................<a href="#page-8">8</a>
   <a href="#section-6">6</a>. Normative References ............................................<a href="#page-9">9</a>
   <a href="#section-7">7</a>. Informative References .........................................<a href="#page-10">10</a>
   <a href="#section-8">8</a>. Acknowledgements ...............................................<a href="#page-10">10</a>
   <a href="#appendix-A">Appendix A</a>: Changes Since <a href="./rfc2255">RFC 2255</a> ................................<a href="#page-11">11</a>
      <a href="#appendix-A.1">A.1</a>. Technical Changes .........................................<a href="#page-11">11</a>
      <a href="#appendix-A.2">A.2</a>. Editorial Changes .........................................<a href="#page-11">11</a>






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<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-1" href="#section-1">1</a>.  Introduction</span>

   LDAP is the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol [<a href="./rfc4510" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): Technical Specification Road Map&quot;">RFC4510</a>].  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 [<a href="./rfc4511" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): The Protocol&quot;">RFC4511</a>] 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
   [<a href="./rfc4510" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): Technical Specification Road Map&quot;">RFC4510</a>], which obsoletes the previously defined LDAP technical
   specification, <a href="./rfc3377">RFC 3377</a>, in its entirety.

   This document replaces <a href="./rfc2255">RFC 2255</a>.  See <a href="#appendix-A">Appendix A</a> for a list of
   changes relative to <a href="./rfc2255">RFC 2255</a>.

   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 <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp14">BCP 14</a> [<a href="./rfc2119" title="&quot;Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels&quot;">RFC2119</a>].

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-2" href="#section-2">2</a>.  URL Definition</span>

   An LDAP URL begins with the protocol prefix "ldap" and is defined by
   the following grammar, following the ABNF notation defined in
   [<a href="./rfc4234" title="&quot;Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF&quot;">RFC4234</a>].

      ldapurl     = scheme COLON SLASH SLASH [host [COLON port]]
                       [SLASH dn [QUESTION [attributes]
                       [QUESTION [scope] [QUESTION [filter]
                       [QUESTION extensions]]]]]
                                      ; &lt;host&gt; and &lt;port&gt; are defined
                                      ;   in Sections <a href="#section-3.2.2">3.2.2</a> and <a href="#section-3.2.3">3.2.3</a>
                                      ;   of [<a href="./rfc3986" title="&quot;Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax&quot;">RFC3986</a>].
                                      ; &lt;filter&gt; is from <a href="#section-3">Section 3</a> of
                                      ;   [<a href="./rfc4515" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): String Representation of Search Filters&quot;">RFC4515</a>], subject to the
                                      ;   provisions of the
                                      ;   "Percent-Encoding" section
                                      ;   below.

      scheme      = "ldap"







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      dn          = distinguishedName ; From <a href="./rfc4514#section-3">Section&nbsp;3 of [RFC4514]</a>,
                                      ; subject to the provisions of
                                      ; the "Percent-Encoding"
                                      ; section below.

      attributes  = attrdesc *(COMMA attrdesc)
      attrdesc    = selector *(COMMA selector)
      selector    = attributeSelector ; From <a href="#section-4.5.1">Section 4.5.1</a> of
                                      ; [<a href="./rfc4511" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): The Protocol&quot;">RFC4511</a>], 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 <a href="./rfc4512#section-1.4">section&nbsp;1.4 of [RFC4512]</a>.

      exvalue     = LDAPString        ; From <a href="#section-4.1.2">section 4.1.2</a> of
                                      ; [<a href="./rfc4511" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): The Protocol&quot;">RFC4511</a>], 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 &lt;host&gt; may contain literal IPv6 addresses as specified
   in <a href="./rfc3986#section-3.2.2">Section&nbsp;3.2.2 of [RFC3986]</a>.

   The &lt;dn&gt; is an LDAP Distinguished Name using the string format
   described in [<a href="./rfc4514" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): String Representation of Distinguished Names&quot;">RFC4514</a>].  It identifies the base object of the LDAP
   search or the target of a non-search operation.

   The &lt;attributes&gt; construct is used to indicate which attributes
   should be returned from the entry or entries.

   The &lt;scope&gt; 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.






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   The &lt;filter&gt; is used to specify the search filter to apply to entries
   within the specified scope during the search.  It has the format
   specified in [<a href="./rfc4515" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): String Representation of Search Filters&quot;">RFC4515</a>].

   The &lt;extensions&gt; 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 (&lt;extype&gt;) MAY be specified using the numeric OID
   &lt;numericoid&gt; form (e.g., 1.2.3.4) or the descriptor &lt;descr&gt; form
   (e.g., myLDAPURLExtension).  Use of the &lt;descr&gt; form SHOULD be
   restricted to registered object identifier descriptive names.  See
   [<a href="./rfc4520" title="&quot;Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Considerations for the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)&quot;">RFC4520</a>] 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.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="section-2.1" href="#section-2.1">2.1</a>.  Percent-Encoding</span>

   A generated LDAP URL MUST consist only of the restricted set of
   characters included in one of the following three productions defined
   in [<a href="./rfc3986" title="&quot;Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax&quot;">RFC3986</a>]:

         &lt;reserved&gt;
         &lt;unreserved&gt;
         &lt;pct-encoded&gt;

   Implementations SHOULD accept other valid UTF-8 strings [<a href="./rfc3629" title="&quot;UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO 10646&quot;">RFC3629</a>] as
   input.  An octet MUST be encoded using the percent-encoding mechanism
   described in <a href="./rfc3986#section-2.1">section&nbsp;2.1 of [RFC3986]</a> in any of these situations:





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      The octet is not in the reserved set defined in <a href="./rfc3986#section-2.2">section&nbsp;2.2 of
      [RFC3986]</a> or in the unreserved set defined in <a href="./rfc3986#section-2.3">section&nbsp;2.3 of
      [RFC3986]</a>.

      It is the single Reserved character '?' and occurs inside a &lt;dn&gt;,
      &lt;filter&gt;, or other element of an LDAP URL.

      It is a comma character ',' that occurs inside an &lt;exvalue&gt;.

   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.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-3" href="#section-3">3</a>.  Defaults for Fields of the LDAP URL</span>

   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, <a href="./rfc4511#section-4.1.10">section&nbsp;4.1.10 of
   [RFC4511]</a> 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.

   &lt;host&gt;
      If no &lt;host&gt; is given, the client must have some a priori
      knowledge of an appropriate LDAP server to contact.

   &lt;port&gt;
      The default LDAP port is TCP port 389.

   &lt;dn&gt;
      If no &lt;dn&gt; is given, the default is the zero-length DN, "".

   &lt;attributes&gt;
      If the &lt;attributes&gt; 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 &lt;alluserattrs&gt;
      selector "*").

   &lt;scope&gt;
      If &lt;scope&gt; is omitted, a &lt;scope&gt; of "base" is assumed.

   &lt;filter&gt;
      If &lt;filter&gt; is omitted, a filter of "(objectClass=*)" is assumed.

   &lt;extensions&gt;
      If &lt;extensions&gt; is omitted, no extensions are assumed.



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<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-4" href="#section-4">4</a>.  Examples</span>

   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 '?'.




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      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 <a href="#section-3">Section 3</a> 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






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   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.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-5" href="#section-5">5</a>.  Security Considerations</span>

   The general URL security considerations discussed in [<a href="./rfc3986" title="&quot;Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax&quot;">RFC3986</a>] 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 [<a href="./rfc4513" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): Authentication Methods and Security Mechanisms&quot;">RFC4513</a>] 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



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

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-6" href="#section-6">6</a>.  Normative References</span>

   [<a id="ref-RFC2119">RFC2119</a>]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp14">BCP 14</a>, <a href="./rfc2119">RFC 2119</a>, March 1997.

   [<a id="ref-RFC3629">RFC3629</a>]  Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO
              10646", STD 63, <a href="./rfc3629">RFC 3629</a>, November 2003.

   [<a id="ref-RFC3986">RFC3986</a>]  Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
              Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66, <a href="./rfc3986">RFC</a>
              <a href="./rfc3986">3986</a>, January 2005.

   [<a id="ref-RFC4234">RFC4234</a>]  Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
              Specifications: ABNF", <a href="./rfc4234">RFC 4234</a>, October 2005.

   [<a id="ref-RFC4510">RFC4510</a>]  Zeilenga, K., Ed., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
              (LDAP): Technical Specification Road Map", <a href="./rfc4510">RFC 4510</a>, June
              2006.

   [<a id="ref-RFC4511">RFC4511</a>]  Sermersheim, J., Ed., "Lightweight Directory Access
              Protocol (LDAP): The Protocol", <a href="./rfc4511">RFC 4511</a>, June 2006.

   [<a id="ref-RFC4512">RFC4512</a>]  Zeilenga, K., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
              (LDAP): Directory Information Models", <a href="./rfc4512">RFC 4512</a>, June
              2006.

   [<a id="ref-RFC4513">RFC4513</a>]  Harrison, R., Ed., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
              (LDAP): Authentication Methods and Security Mechanisms",
              <a href="./rfc4513">RFC 4513</a>, June 2006.

   [<a id="ref-RFC4514">RFC4514</a>]  Zeilenga, K., Ed., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
              (LDAP): String Representation of Distinguished Names", <a href="./rfc4514">RFC</a>
              <a href="./rfc4514">4514</a>, June 2006.

   [<a id="ref-RFC4515">RFC4515</a>]  Smith, M. Ed. and T. Howes, "Lightweight Directory Access
              Protocol (LDAP): String Representation of Search Filters",
              <a href="./rfc4515">RFC 4515</a>, June 2006.











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<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-7" href="#section-7">7</a>.  Informative References</span>

   [<a id="ref-RFC2396">RFC2396</a>]  Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
              Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax", <a href="./rfc2396">RFC 2396</a>,
              August 1998.

   [<a id="ref-RFC4520">RFC4520</a>]  Zeilenga, K., "Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
              Considerations for the Lightweight Directory Access
              Protocol (LDAP)", <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp64">BCP 64</a>, <a href="./rfc4520">RFC 4520</a>, June 2006.

<span class="h2"><a class="selflink" id="section-8" href="#section-8">8</a>.  Acknowledgements</span>

   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 <a href="./rfc2255">RFC 2255</a> 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.
























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Appendix A: Changes Since <a href="./rfc2255">RFC 2255</a>

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.1" href="#appendix-A.1">A.1</a>.  Technical Changes</span>

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

   Revised all of the ABNF to use common productions from [<a href="./rfc4512" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): Directory Information Models&quot;">RFC4512</a>].

   Replaced references to [<a href="./rfc2396" title="&quot;Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax&quot;">RFC2396</a>] with a reference to [<a href="./rfc3986" title="&quot;Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax&quot;">RFC3986</a>] (this
   allows literal IPv6 addresses to be used inside the &lt;host&gt; portion of
   the URL, and a note was added to remind the reader of this
   enhancement).  Referencing [<a href="./rfc3986" title="&quot;Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax&quot;">RFC3986</a>] required changes to the ABNF and
   text so that productions that are no longer defined by [<a href="./rfc3986" title="&quot;Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax&quot;">RFC3986</a>] are
   not used.  For example, &lt;hostport&gt; is not defined by [<a href="./rfc3986" title="&quot;Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax&quot;">RFC3986</a>] so it
   has been replaced with host [COLON port].  Note that [<a href="./rfc3986" title="&quot;Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax&quot;">RFC3986</a>]
   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 <a href="./rfc2732">RFC 2732</a>).

   Changed the definition of &lt;attrdesc&gt; to refer to &lt;attributeSelector&gt;
   from [<a href="./rfc4511" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): The Protocol&quot;">RFC4511</a>].  This allows the use of "*" in the &lt;attrdesc&gt; part of
   the URL.  It is believed that existing implementations of <a href="./rfc2255">RFC 2255</a>
   already support this.

   Avoided use of &lt;prose-val&gt; (bracketed-string) productions in the
   &lt;dn&gt;, &lt;host&gt;, &lt;attrdesc&gt;, and &lt;exvalue&gt; rules.

   Changed the ABNF for &lt;ldapurl&gt; to group the &lt;dn&gt; component with the
   preceding &lt;SLASH&gt;.

   Changed the &lt;extype&gt; rule to be an &lt;oid&gt; from [<a href="./rfc4512" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): Directory Information Models&quot;">RFC4512</a>].

   Changed the text about extension types so it references [<a href="./rfc4520" title="&quot;Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Considerations for the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)&quot;">RFC4520</a>].
   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.

<span class="h3"><a class="selflink" id="appendix-A.2" href="#appendix-A.2">A.2</a>.  Editorial Changes</span>

   Changed document title to include "LDAP:" prefix.

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




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   "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 <a href="./rfc2255">RFC 2255</a> is replaced by this document
   (instead of <a href="./rfc1959">RFC 1959</a>).  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 [<a href="./rfc4511" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): The Protocol&quot;">RFC4511</a>] can be expressed using
   this format.

   "URL Definition" section: removed second copy of &lt;ldapurl&gt; grammar
   and following two paragraphs (editorial error in <a href="./rfc2255">RFC 2255</a>).  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 [<a href="./rfc4511" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): The Protocol&quot;">RFC4511</a>]."  because [<a href="./rfc4511" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): The Protocol&quot;">RFC4511</a>]'s
   &lt;attributeSelector&gt; 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 <a href="./rfc4234">RFC 4234</a>.
   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
   [<a href="./rfc4511" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): The Protocol&quot;">RFC4511</a>] 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 &lt;alluserattrs&gt; selector "*" defined in [<a href="./rfc4511" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): The Protocol&quot;">RFC4511</a>].

   "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



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   to the &lt;dn&gt; 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 [<a href="./rfc4513" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): Authentication Methods and Security Mechanisms&quot;">RFC4513</a>].  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 <a href="./rfc2255">RFC 2255</a>.  Added Kurt Zeilenga, Jim Sermersheim, and
   Hallvard Furuseth.

   "Normative References" section: renamed from "References" per new RFC
   guidelines.  Changed from [1] style to [<a href="./rfc4511" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): The Protocol&quot;">RFC4511</a>] style throughout the
   document.  Added references to <a href="./rfc4234">RFC 4234</a> and <a href="./rfc3629">RFC 3629</a>.  Updated all
   <a href="./rfc1738">RFC 1738</a> references to point to the appropriate sections within
   [<a href="./rfc3986" title="&quot;Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax&quot;">RFC3986</a>].  Updated the LDAP references to refer to LDAPBis WG
   documents.  Removed the reference to the LDAP Attribute Syntaxes
   document and added references to the [<a href="./rfc4513" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): Authentication Methods and Security Mechanisms&quot;">RFC4513</a>], [<a href="./rfc4520" title="&quot;Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Considerations for the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)&quot;">RFC4520</a>], and
   [<a href="./rfc4510" title="&quot;Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): Technical Specification Road Map&quot;">RFC4510</a>] 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 "&lt;" and "&gt;" where they are used in descriptive text.


















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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































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Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).

   This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
   contained in <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp78">BCP 78</a>, 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 <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp78">BCP 78</a> and <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp/bcp79">BCP 79</a>.

   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
   <a href="http://www.ietf.org/ipr">http://www.ietf.org/ipr</a>.

   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).







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