On Thursday 07 June 2007 01:24:45 Craig wrote:

I need to create a user (or 2) for replication only, but don't really know where to put it or which structural class it should be.

I was thinking about: dn: uid=Replicator,dc=example,dc=com objectClass: top objectClass: account objectClass: shadowAccount

No need for shadowAccount.

userPassword: <some pw>
uid: Replicator

This works, but is this really the best way to create "admin accounts"?

For me, "admin accounts" are accounts used for various tasks related to server (not necessarily just slapd) maintenance. (Replication is the only "task" I can think of at the moment.)

Also, I have the following org unit: dn: ou=People,dc=example,dc=com ou: People objectClass: top objectClass: organizationalUnit

I was putting the above DN (cn=Replicator,...) in the root (as opposed to "ou=People,..."). Does that make sense? Or should I create an ou just for "admin/misc" accounts?

I created two branches in my tree called "ou=System Groups" and "ou=System Accounts". These kind of "users" I put there, and I use the group names in ACLs.

Lastly, is there a way to give a "non-plain text" password for the syncrel user: syncrepl rid=123 ... bindmethod=simple binddn="cn=Replicator,dc=example,dc=com" credentials={SSHA}<encrypted string>

All of the examples and docs seem to indicate that the credentials should be the password for the "binddn" in clear text.

Yes. Think about it: it's like an user typing his/her password at a login prompt. The openldap server (consumer) is behaving like a regular LDAP client in this context.

You can get away with it, a bit, if using SASL GSSAPI or perhaps EXTERNAL. But a secret will always be stored in the machine, be it a password, private key, keytab file, etc.

TIA! Craig