Long Query Interface Help

Example pageExplanations

Querying the Data Base

This Action is the most simple one and needs only a search attribute to be selected and entered, such as Common Name or groups and submit pressed. Wild cards in their most simple form (star matches everything) work.

General Procedure for Adding an Entry

The course to take for adding an entry is to select the Rootdn (the authority to perform the changes), enter its Rootpw, edit all appropriate values and select Add New Entry instead of Query Data Base. When you're done editing, press the enter button to submit the modify request.

General Procedure for Deleting an Entry

The course to take for adding an entry is to select the Rootdn (the authority to perform the changes), enter its Rootpw, select the appropriate Common Name (or a different unique attribute), and select Delete Entry instead of Query Data Base. When you're done editing, press the enter button to submit the modify request.

Modifying an Entry

This is done in a similar way to Querying or deleting, but since for the form you need no privileges, it will suffice to enter a unique attribute, such as Common Name or uid. Select Modify Entry instead of Query Data Base and press the enter button to submit the modify request.

Bind Attributes

Server:
Usually, you will not have to set the server as the default, will work well for local modifications. If, however, the default server should ever be changed, the necessity of accessing a backup server should arise or you simply want to access a different server from ours, you're welcome to access it setting this variable.
Base DN:
The base part of the LDAP entity you want to modify. Pretty standard, this will usually be "o=OeH Uni Wien, c=AT", but as with the server you always have the possibility of accessing a different server - and then maybe one day we'll install suborganisations (attribute uo), which will anticipitatively change everything.
Rootdn:
The DN (Distinguished Name, that's what LDAP addresses are called) of the entity wishing to modify an entry. Note that the Rootdn need not be the same as the entity to be modified - in particular, various attributes like groups or sub organisation cannot even be modified by the entity itself!
Rootpw:
The userPassword (or rootpw) of the entity modifying the entry. If you modify your own entry, enter your password here, generally you'll have to enter the password of the Rootdn.

Mandatory Attributes

cn:
Common Name of the Entity to be modified. This attribute is used for the construction of the DN (Distinguished Name), so modification will make successful operation impossible. Change only if you know exactly what you are doing.
Further CN attributes can appear (and new ones can be added), though care should be taken regarding deletion of CNames.
sn:
Short Name of the entity
uid:
User IDentification of the entity.
mail:
RFC 822 internet email address- This Attribute has mostly informational value to tell others where the entity prefers to receive mail. In addition, a forward attribute exists, which will be used by sendmail for determining where to forward emails directed to the entity.
objectclass:
Type of entity. Person and Organisation are widely used, attribute values include sysadmin and luser.
description
feel free to tell us about yourself, stapo are craving for learning more about you and your friends
groups:
Membership of groups determines your permission to read certain news groups. If you believe you should belong to more groups, bang your head to the wall, ask your doctor about it or contact us.
office:
Copy the whole address of your work place (Fak, StRV, ...) and don't forget to set the office phon number and fax below. Hm, maybe it's not that important ... never mind, some one might be interested
attitude
What's your attitude to computers and life in general? Never mind if you don't know, don't ask, but you might want to learn more about the BOFH.
userPassword:
Your password. If you don't have one, you won't be able to change your entry, though in theory LDAP should enforce the existence of a non-null password.
The password needs to be entered twice (for changing!) in order to minimize the possibility of spelling errors. Hopefully we will soon check for "easy" passwords so they are not too easily guessable - whichever way, please choose a decent password! The security of the system is based on it, so you should not make it too easy for cracker jacks to get in.

Compulsury Attributes

Mail Address:
see above
Description:
see above
Mail-forward:
Your main email address, where all emails should be forwarded. This can naturally be used for mailbombing, although it might be considered silly (you'll lose your account pretty soon). Mainly, this attribute will be used by sendmail to forward your mails to a central mail account, optionally we might choose not to store your mails locally (hmpf, no you cannot enable this yourself - you would just screw it up).
note: an autoreply feature is not currently implemented but might eventually be if you bug me sufficiently (the again it might not if you bug me sufficiently - YMMV)
Groups:
see above
Office:
see above
Phone:
Office Phone
Fax:
Number of a telephone line capable of receiving Facsimile transmissions. Ideally you should be able to collect faxes there, since otherwise it is probably quite pointless to stick it in here in the first place, but tastes are known to differ considerably.
Attitude:
see above
Home Phone:
Home Phone, where your home page can be reached
Home Page:
page linked to your home phone. You probably will not believe it, but in USA people's homepages already talk to each other live! Of course, no one understands them and many people put off this extraordinary phenomenon as complete and utter nonsense invented by mad computer scientists, but if you've made it that far in the help form, either you are one yourself or you've really got far too little to read otherwise.