• Virtual Directory Server
• LDAP Proxy
• Federated Identity Suite
• Free LDAP Browser

Attribute Mapping

Challenge
LDAP usually relies on schemas to define the different attributes and objectclasses that are used for entries within your directory. The problem is that there are a multitude of different schemas around and if you have a client application that expects you to be using a different schema to the one that you are using on your directory, the application will simply not work properly. While modifying your schema is an option, this can also complicate matters further, as you may end up with two attributes that contain duplicate information and are not compatible across all of the applications within your environment. This means that you have to maintain datasets for your different applications.

A great example might be an attribute used to store email addresses for a user. In your schema, the attribute that you plan to use may be named 'mail', while your new client application expects this attribute to be named 'email'. Within your environment, you already have a number of applications that are comfortable using the 'mail' attribute. So adding an 'email' attribute to your schema to accommodate your new client application does not really make any sense.

What you really need is a way to fool the new client application into thinking that the 'mail' attribute is actually named 'email'. 

Solution
Symlabs Virtual Directory Server and LDAP Proxy both include an Attribute Mapping plugin that is capable of resolving this problem for you instantly. By using the Attribute Mapping plugin one can perform schema adaptations between client applications and data repositories without a complete overhaul of the actual schema.

The Attribute Mapping plugin can be configured so that it is functional for any attribute, either in both directions (from client to server and vice versa), or just in one. Attribute mapping works in a case-insensitive way (i.e. it doesn't matter whether you use capital or small letters, or a mix of the two). All attribute names that you enter in the configuration are automatically converted to lower case.

The Attribute Mapping plugin can easily be used in conjunction with the Virtual Schema plugin to completely adapt your infrastructure to a client application's requirements on the fly.