Suffix and DN Value Mapping
ChallengeIf you're working with more than one directory and, using a virtual directory, you're presenting a single consolidated view of your data, more than likely you will be facing the problem of how you should handle suffix or DN information that is presented for different branches and entries within your virtual directory.
Consider the situation where you have two directories making use of different suffixes (e.g. dc=mycompany.local and dc=mycompany,dc=org). In this situation, entries that appear within the consolidated view within your virtual directory will be referenced using different suffix data. Furthermore, some attributes may contain values that include a DN, such as group information etc.
Ideally, you would like all suffixes and DN Values to be rewritten so that they appear to belong to the correct place within your virtual directory. Equally, when a client performs an operation on one of these suffixes, the virtual directory should be able to translate that back to the original suffix that applies on the backend server.
Another case where you may need to rewrite DN Values and Suffix data arises when a client application expects particular data to be stored in a particular branch within your DIT, when you own DIT structure is different to that which the application expects. For instance, a company may hold employee information entries in the "ou=employee,dc=mycompany,dc=com" branch of their LDAP server. However, an HR application may expect the information to be stored in the "ou=people,o=mycompany" branch of the server.
Solution
These problems disappear when you are working with Symlabs LDAP Proxy or Virtual Directory Server.
The Suffix Mapping plugin is used to rename one or more suffixes
(i.e. tree nodes) on the fly. Subsequently, the suffix mapping plugin will let you
change the way your tree looks to LDAP clients. With this plugin you can remap multiple
trees on the fly by defining the mapping transformations within the plugin configuration
panel. Trees that are remapped will retain all of their child-nodes and will simply be
presented with a new branch name to the client application. This basic functionality is
needed to perform branch name adaptations between client applications and data repositories.
The Map DN values plugin is used to rename suffixes, in attribute values holding DNs, on the fly. This basic functionality is needed to perform schema adaptations between client applications and data repositories in cases where not only the entry DN needs to be replaced but there are also attributes with values that need to be mapped.
These bundled plugins make it very simple to perform branch mappings and suffix transformations on each operation that a client performs. From the backend directory's point of view, the client will always be working with the correct suffix, while from the client's point of view, the server will always respond with the DN values and suffixes that the client expects.