Michael wrote:
Looking at the OpenLDAP schema it appears to use the "manager" attribute the filed requires the dn: of the object.
Yes.
Is there another attribute similar to the manager attribute that will take a simple syntax such as "John Doe".
AFAIK not in schema shipped with OpenLDAP.
There are a good deal of managers in our organization that don't have LDAP accounts and therefore naturally don't have a DN to specify in this field. I don't want the extra overhead of creating these DN's just for the sake of using this this attribute if I don't have to.
Think twice: - namespace - obsolete information, referential integrity etc.
If you really need a freeform text field for arbitrary names then simply define your own schema:
http://www.openldap.org/faq/data/cache/219.html
Ciao, Michael.