OpenLDAP directory data organisation

Abstract

This document describes the OpenLDAP directory data organisation for the stoney cloud. This directory is the database for all the services. Each service has its own module, which normally consists of:

• An OpenLDAP directory service entry, which contains all the relevant data like main configuration, default settings and the service entries.
• The web interface section, which hooks itself into the stoney core main framework.
• Finally, a provisioning daemon, which is responsible for adding, modifying and deleting the actual service on the different back-end systems.

Introduction

All Service-, User- and Billing-Data are stored in the OpenLDAP directory. The OpenLDAP directory runs in Multi-Master Mirror-Mode for high availability.

Data Organisation

The following chapters explain the data organisation of the stoney cloud OpenLDAP directory.

root

The following LDIF shows the root entry of the whole OpenLDAP directory tree for the stoney cloud:

dn: dc=stoney-cloud,dc=org
objectclass: top
objectclass: dcObject
objectclass: organization
dc: stoney-cloud
o: stoney-cloud

The following LDIF shows the root of the whole OpenLDAP directory tree for the stoney cloud modified for the company stepping stone GmbH in Switzerland:

dn: o=stepping-stone,c=ch
objectclass: top
objectclass: organization
o: stepping-stone

The entry c=ch stands for the country code of Switzerland while o=stepping-stone stands for the the organisation stepping-stone. The entry stepping-stone is in the process of being reserved at the Federal Office of Communications. With the reservation of the name, all the directory entries will be unique over the whole world.

The root entry can be chosen during the installation process of the stoney cloud. If you decide to use the default entry, you'll end up with dc=stoney-cloud,dc=org.

Core

stoney core is the main framework responsible for shared functionality (also called self-care):

• User management, rights and roles.
• A consistent look and feel between modules.
• Internationalization.

Services

The sub tree ou=services,dc=stoney-cloud,dc=org contains all the stoney cloud services like backup or mail.

dn: ou=services,dc=stone-cloud,dc=org
objectclass: organizationalUnit
objectclass: top
ou: services

The actual services are described in the following chapters.

Backup

The (Online) Backup service consists of two areas:

• Server: The actual backup space with some extra functionality like informing the user when the backup space runs full or if a back was not executed at the planned time.
• Client: The backup client (for example Sepiola), which is responsible to regularly copy the local data to the backup server.

On the back server the data copied to the backup space ist compared each day to the previous day's backup. If there are any changes found, a copy of the data will be made (a snapshot taken). Thus the user has access to 7 daily, 4 weekly and 3 monthly backups. During each snapshot, only the modified data is copied - thereby making optimal use of the available disk space.

This OpenLDAP related section of the Backup service is described on the Backup (OpenLDAP) page.