First, install the OpenLDAP server daemon slapd and ldap-utils, a package containing LDAP management utilities:

sudo apt-get install slapd ldap-utils

The installation process will prompt you for the LDAP directory admin password and confirmation.

By default the directory suffix will match the domain name of the server. For example, if the machine's Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) is ldap.example.com, the default suffix will be dc=example,dc=com. If you require a different suffix, the directory can be reconfigured using dpkg-reconfigure. Enter the following in a terminal prompt:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure slapd

You will then be taken through a menu based configuration dialog, allowing you to configure various slapd options.

OpenLDAP uses a separate database which contains the cn=config Directory Information Tree (DIT). The cn=config DIT is used to dynamically configure the slapd daemon, allowing the modification of schema definitions, indexes, ACLs, etc without stopping the service.

The cn=config tree can be manipulated using the utilities in the ldap-utils package. For example:

The directory has been created during installation and reconfiguration, and now it is time to populate it. It will be populated with a "classical" scheme that will be compatible with address book applications and with Unix Posix accounts. Posix accounts will allow authentication to various applications, such as web applications, email Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) applications, etc.

	For external applications to authenticate using LDAP they will each need to be specifically configured to do so. Refer to the individual application documentation for details.

LDAP directories can be populated with LDIF (LDAP Directory Interchange Format) files. Copy the following example LDIF file, naming it example.com.ldif, somewhere on your system:

dn: ou=people,dc=example,dc=com
objectClass: organizationalUnit
ou: people

dn: ou=groups,dc=example,dc=com
objectClass: organizationalUnit
ou: groups

dn: uid=john,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com
objectClass: inetOrgPerson
objectClass: posixAccount
objectClass: shadowAccount
uid: john
sn: Doe
givenName: John
cn: John Doe
displayName: John Doe
uidNumber: 1000
gidNumber: 10000
userPassword: password
gecos: John Doe
loginShell: /bin/bash
homeDirectory: /home/john
shadowExpire: -1
shadowFlag: 0
shadowWarning: 7
shadowMin: 8
shadowMax: 999999
shadowLastChange: 10877
mail: [email protected]
postalCode: 31000
l: Toulouse
o: Example
mobile: +33 (0)6 xx xx xx xx
homePhone: +33 (0)5 xx xx xx xx
title: System Administrator
postalAddress: 
initials: JD

dn: cn=example,ou=groups,dc=example,dc=com
objectClass: posixGroup
cn: example
gidNumber: 10000

In this example the directory structure, a user, and a group have been setup. In other examples you might see the objectClass: top added in every entry, but that is the default behaviour so you do not have to add it explicitly.

To add the entries to the LDAP directory use the ldapadd utility:

ldapadd -x -D cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com -W -f example.com.ldif

We can check that the content has been correctly added with the tools from the ldap-utils package. In order to execute a search of the LDAP directory:

ldapsearch -xLLL -b "dc=example,dc=com" uid=john sn givenName cn

dn: uid=john,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com
cn: John Doe
sn: Doe
givenName: John

Just a quick explanation:

LDAP often quickly becomes a highly critical service to the network. Multiple systems will come to depend on LDAP for authentication, authorization, configuration, etc. It is a good idea to setup a redundant system through replication.

Replication is achieved using the Syncrepl engine. Syncrepl allows the directory to be synced using either a push or pull based system. In a push based configuration a “primary” server will push directory updates to “secondary” servers, while a pull based approach allows replication servers to sync on a time based interval.

The following is an example of a Multi-Master configuration. In this configuration each OpenLDAP server is configured for both push and pull replication.

The configuration and backend databases should now sycnc to the other servers. You can add additional servers using the ldapmodify utility as the need arises. See the section called “Configuration” for details.

	The slapd daemon will send log information to /var/log/syslog by default. So if all does not go well check there for errors and other troubleshooting information.

Authentication requires access to the password field, that should be not accessible by default. Also, in order for users to change their own password, using passwd or other utilities, shadowLastChange needs to be accessible once a user has authenticated.

To view the Access Control List (ACL), use the ldapsearch utility:

ldapsearch -xLLL -b cn=config -D cn=admin,cn=config -W olcDatabase=hdb olcAccess

Enter LDAP Password: 
dn: olcDatabase={1}hdb,cn=config
olcAccess: {0}to attrs=userPassword,shadowLastChange by dn="cn=admin,dc=exampl
 e,dc=com" write by anonymous auth by self write by * none
olcAccess: {1}to dn.base="" by * read
olcAccess: {2}to * by dn="cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com" write by * read

When authenticating to an OpenLDAP server it is best to do so using an encrypted session. This can be accomplished using Transport Layer Security (TLS) and/or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

The first step in the process is to obtain or create a certificate. See the section called “Certificates” and the section called “Certification Authority” for details.

Once you have a certificate, key, and CA cert installed, use ldapmodify to add the new configuration options:

ldapmodify -x -D cn=admin,cn=config -W

Enter LDAP Password:
dn: cn=config
add: olcTLSCACertificateFile
olcTLSCACertificateFile: /etc/ssl/certs/cacert.pem
-
add: olcTLSCertificateFile
olcTLSCertificateFile: /etc/ssl/certs/server.crt
-
add: olcTLSCertificateKeyFile
olcTLSCertificateKeyFile: /etc/ssl/private/server.key

modifying entry "cn=config"

	Adjust the server.crt, server.key, and cacert.pem names if yours are different.

Next, edit /etc/default/slapd uncomment the SLAPD_SERVICES option:

SLAPD_SERVICES="ldap://127.0.0.1:389/ ldaps:/// ldapi:///"

Now the openldap user needs access to the certificate:

sudo adduser openldap ssl-cert
sudo chgrp ssl-cert /etc/ssl/private/server.key

	If the /etc/ssl/private and /etc/ssl/private/server.key have different permissions, adjust the commands appropriately.

Finally, restart slapd:

sudo /etc/init.d/slapd restart

The slapd daemon should now be listening for LDAPS connections and be able to use STARTTLS during authentication.

ldapmodify -x -D cn=admin,cn=config -W

Enter LDAP Password: 
dn: olcDatabase={0}config,cn=config
replace: olcSyncrepl
olcSyncrepl: {0}rid=001 provider=ldap://ldap01.example.com binddn="cn=admin,cn
 =config" bindmethod=simple credentials=secret searchbase="cn=config" type=refre
 shAndPersist retry="5 5 300 5" timeout=1 starttls=yes
olcSyncrepl: {1}rid=002 provider=ldap://ldap02.example.com binddn="cn=admin,cn
 =config" bindmethod=simple credentials=secret searchbase="cn=config" type=refre
 shAndPersist retry="5 5 300 5" timeout=1 starttls=yes

modifying entry "olcDatabase={0}config,cn=config"

ldapmodify -x -D cn=admin,cn=config -W

Enter LDAP Password:
dn: olcDatabase={1}hdb,cn=config
replace: olcSyncrepl
olcSyncrepl: {0}rid=003 provider=ldap://ldap01.example.com binddn="cn=admin,dc=example,dc=
 com" bindmethod=simple credentials=secret searchbase="dc=example,dc=com" type=r
 efreshOnly interval=00:00:00:10 retry="5 5 300 5" timeout=1 starttls=yes
olcSyncrepl: {1}rid=004 provider=ldap://ldap02.example.com binddn="cn=admin,dc=example,dc=
 com" bindmethod=simple credentials=secret searchbase="dc=example,dc=com" type=r
 efreshOnly interval=00:00:00:10 retry="5 5 300 5" timeout=1 starttls=yes

modifying entry "olcDatabase={1}hdb,cn=config"

TLS_CERT /etc/ssl/certs/server.crt
TLS_KEY /etc/ssl/private/server.key
TLS_CACERT /etc/ssl/certs/cacert.pem

sudo /etc/init.d/slapd restart

Once you have a working LDAP server, the auth-client-config and libnss-ldap packages take the pain out of configuring an Ubuntu client to authenticate using LDAP. To install the packages from, a terminal prompt enter:

sudo apt-get install libnss-ldap

During the install a menu dialog will ask you connection details about your LDAP server.

If you make a mistake when entering your information you can execute the dialog again using:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure ldap-auth-config

The results of the dialog can be seen in /etc/ldap.conf. If your server requires options not covered in the menu edit this file accordingly.

Now that libnss-ldap is configured enable the auth-client-config LDAP profile by entering:

sudo auth-client-config -a -p lac_ldap

You should now be able to login using user credentials stored in the LDAP directory.

The ldap-utils package comes with multiple utilities to manage the directory, but the long string of options needed, can make them a burden to use. The ldapscripts package contains configurable scripts to easily manage LDAP users and groups.

To install the package, from a terminal enter:

sudo apt-get install ldapscripts

Next, edit the config file /etc/ldapscripts/ldapscripts.conf uncommenting and changing the following to match your environment:

SERVER=localhost
BINDDN='cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com'
BINDPWDFILE="/etc/ldapscripts/ldapscripts.passwd"
SUFFIX='dc=example,dc=com'
GSUFFIX='ou=Groups'
USUFFIX='ou=People'
MSUFFIX='ou=Computers'
GIDSTART=10000
UIDSTART=10000
MIDSTART=10000

Now, create the ldapscripts.passwd file to allow authenticated access to the directory:

sudo sh -c "echo -n 'secret' > /etc/ldapscripts/ldapscripts.passwd"
sudo chmod 400 /etc/ldapscripts/ldapscripts.passwd

	Replace “secret” with the actual password for your LDAP admin user.

The ldapscripts are now ready to help manage your directory. The following are some examples of how to use the scripts:

There are more useful scripts in the package, to see a full list enter: dpkg -L ldapscripts | grep bin