adding entries using jndi

[ameyas]

All,

I am a newbie to ldap. I have ADAM (Active Directory Application Mode)
as our LDAP server. I am using netscape's LDAP service provider SDK.

i was just trying the following snippet of code.
this should create the directory entry but i am gettin
NoSuchAttributeException at the bind statement.

what am i missing here ? also do i need to create something in the
schema in order to store Integer objects i nthe directory ?

also i have created an application specific partition while creating
ADAM instance. do i need to provide that in the PROVIDER_URL ?


import javax.naming.*;
import javax.naming.directory.*;
import java.util.*;


public class ADAMDemo {

final static String ldapServerName = "localhost";
final static int ldapPort = 389;

public static void main( String[] args ) {
// set up environment to access the server
Hashtable<String, String> env = new Hashtable<String,
String>();
env.put( Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY,
"com.netscape.jndi.ldap.LdapContextFactory" );
env.put( Context.PROVIDER_URL, "ldap://" + ldapServerName
+ ":" + ldapPort);
try {
// obtain initial directory context using the
environment
DirContext ctx = new InitialDirContext( env );

// create some random number to add to the
directory
Integer i = new Integer( 28420 );

System.out.println( "Adding " + i + " to
directory..." );
ctx.bind("cn=myRandomInt", i);

i = new Integer( 98765 );

System.out.println( "i is now: " + i );
i = (Integer) ctx.lookup( "cn=myRandomInt" );
System.out.println( "Retrieved i from directory
with value: " + i );
} catch ( NameAlreadyBoundException nabe ) {
System.err.println( "value has already been
bound!" );
} catch ( Exception e ) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}


thanks in advance. any kind of help is appreciated.


regards
amey

 

[Brandon McCombs]

All,

I am a newbie to ldap. I have ADAM (Active Directory Application Mode)
as our LDAP server. I am using netscape's LDAP service provider SDK.

Why not just use native JNDI instead of netscape's JNDI service provider?

javax.naming.*;
javax.naming.directory.*;
javax.naming.ldap.*;

i was just trying the following snippet of code.
this should create the directory entry but i am gettin
NoSuchAttributeException at the bind statement.

Well after looking at your code it seems that you don't know how LDAP
really works. A piece of data doesn't go directly into the directory. An
attribute is stored in the directory with the piece of data as its value.

Example: You may want to store phone numbers for all your users. This
is a standard attribute called telephoneNumber and it is already created
to store integer values. Assigning a particular user's telephoneNumber
attribute a telphone number value would store that user's phone number
so anyone searching for that user could read his/her phone number. You
don't just store the number itself. It has to belong to someone.

LDAP uses object classes to define the objects that can exist. These are
similar to classes in Java or C++. An instance of an object class is an
object (user, printer, server, etc.) just like an instance of a Java
class is an object. The LDAP object contains various attributes such as
first name, last name, email address, etc. This is similar to how a
object in Java may have member fields.

what am i missing here ? also do i need to create something in the
schema in order to store Integer objects i nthe directory ?

Well it depends on what the integer is supposed to represent. If it is
just some arbitrary integer you wouldn't have any reason to store that
anyway. There are many standard attributes already defined that can hold
integer values. I mentioned telephoneNumber above but there are others
such as a fax number or employeeID. However, when working with LDAP
with JNDI integers are just treated as strings so you won't ever have a
need to create Integers.

also i have created an application specific partition while creating
ADAM instance. do i need to provide that in the PROVIDER_URL ?

Yes you will if you want to connect to that specific location in the
directory and create/delete an object or modify an existing one.

import javax.naming.*;
import javax.naming.directory.*;
import java.util.*;


public class ADAMDemo {

final static String ldapServerName = "localhost";
final static int ldapPort = 389;

public static void main( String[] args ) {
// set up environment to access the server
Hashtable<String, String> env = new Hashtable<String,
String>();
env.put( Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY,
"com.netscape.jndi.ldap.LdapContextFactory" );
env.put( Context.PROVIDER_URL, "ldap://" + ldapServerName
+ ":" + ldapPort);
try {
// obtain initial directory context using the
environment
DirContext ctx = new InitialDirContext( env );

// create some random number to add to the
directory

a number by itself doesn't mean anything and is not designed to be put
into a directory on its own. You must create an object such as a user
object or computer object since you are working with ADS. And then
modify one of the predefined attributes. Since you don't seem to know
how LDAP works I suggest reading up on it first and also taking a look
at the ADS schema by using the Active Directory Schema MMC snap-in. I
presume this is available in ADAM. By browsing the directory schema you
can see what type of attributes a typical user can have. Also, if you
use ADSIedit you can see how attributes for a preexisting user are setup.

Integer i = new Integer( 28420 );

System.out.println( "Adding " + i + " to
directory..." );
ctx.bind("cn=myRandomInt", i);

You can't do this until myRandomInt is created using
ctx.createSubcontext() but again, there is no reason to store just an
integer. For the code below, ChangeObject is a class I created with the
'name' field being the distinguished name of the object.

public String createEntry(ChangeObject object) {
try {
ctx.createSubcontext(object.name, object.attribSet);
return null;
} catch (NameAlreadyBoundException Ex) {
return "Object already exists with that name.";
} catch (InvalidAttributesException Ex) {
return "Missing attributes.";
} catch (NamingException Ex) {
return Ex.getMessage();
} catch (Exception Ex) {
return Ex.toString();
}
}

To modify an existing object do something like this:
public String modEntry(ChangeObject object) {
LdapName nodeName = object.name;
BasicAttributes attrs = object.attribSet;
int operation = object.op;
try {
if (operation == 0)
ctx.modifyAttributes(nodeName,
InitialDirContext.ADD_ATTRIBUTE, attrs); else if (operation == 1)
ctx.modifyAttributes(nodeName,
InitialDirContext.REPLACE_ATTRIBUTE, attrs);
else if (operation == 2)
ctx.modifyAttributes(nodeName,
InitialDirContext.REMOVE_ATTRIBUTE, attrs);
return null;
} catch (NamingException Ex) {
return Ex.getMessage();
}
}

i = new Integer( 98765 );

System.out.println( "i is now: " + i );
i = (Integer) ctx.lookup( "cn=myRandomInt" );
System.out.println( "Retrieved i from directory
with value: " + i );
} catch ( NameAlreadyBoundException nabe ) {
System.err.println( "value has already been
bound!" );
} catch ( Exception e ) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}


thanks in advance. any kind of help is appreciated.


regards
amey

reply to the group if you need additional help

 

[ameyas]

Brandon,

thanks for your response.

however the example was from some tutorial that i was going through.
I could not find the source URL for the tutorial however
http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=578501&messageID=2917314
post also mentions the same example however the case is different.

also you can find the below mentioned tutorial
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-03-2000/jw-0324-ldap.html?page=3

// Create object to be bound
MyObject obj = new MyObject();
// Perform bind and specify codebase
BasicAttribytes battr = new
BasicAttributes("javaCodebase","http://myserver.com/classes")
ctx.bind("cn=anobject", obj, battr);

here also he is trying to add java object into the directory.


i went through couple of tutorials which mentioned that JNDI is like
JDBC i.e. it only provides the interfaces and the implementation is
provided by the vendors. i beilieve netscape ldap sdk is one such
vendor.
however i tried using JNDI tutorial examples without using netscape
ldap sdk, they also worked ( i got exceptions but those were more of
authentication and other stuff). so the point is even when my
ldapjdk.jar (from netscape) so the point is my ldapjdk.jar (from
netscape) was not in the classpath but still I could connect/ run the
program.

now my question is does java 5 comes with some in-built implementation
(provider) for JNDI ?
because from the tutorials it appeared as if they were only interfaces
and one would need to supply the 3rd party providers. i was using
"com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory" as the context factory.

thanks in advance.

regards
amey

All,

I am a newbie to ldap. I have ADAM (Active Directory Application Mode)
as our LDAP server. I am using netscape's LDAP service provider SDK.

Why not just use native JNDI instead of netscape's JNDI service provider?

javax.naming.*;
javax.naming.directory.*;
javax.naming.ldap.*;

i was just trying the following snippet of code.
this should create the directory entry but i am gettin
NoSuchAttributeException at the bind statement.

Well after looking at your code it seems that you don't know how LDAP
really works. A piece of data doesn't go directly into the directory. An
attribute is stored in the directory with the piece of data as its value.

Example: You may want to store phone numbers for all your users. This
is a standard attribute called telephoneNumber and it is already created
to store integer values. Assigning a particular user's telephoneNumber
attribute a telphone number value would store that user's phone number
so anyone searching for that user could read his/her phone number. You
don't just store the number itself. It has to belong to someone.

LDAP uses object classes to define the objects that can exist. These are
similar to classes in Java or C++. An instance of an object class is an
object (user, printer, server, etc.) just like an instance of a Java
class is an object. The LDAP object contains various attributes such as
first name, last name, email address, etc. This is similar to how a
object in Java may have member fields.

what am i missing here ? also do i need to create something in the
schema in order to store Integer objects i nthe directory ?

Well it depends on what the integer is supposed to represent. If it is
just some arbitrary integer you wouldn't have any reason to store that
anyway. There are many standard attributes already defined that can hold
integer values. I mentioned telephoneNumber above but there are others
such as a fax number or employeeID. However, when working with LDAP
with JNDI integers are just treated as strings so you won't ever have a
need to create Integers.

also i have created an application specific partition while creating
ADAM instance. do i need to provide that in the PROVIDER_URL ?

Yes you will if you want to connect to that specific location in the
directory and create/delete an object or modify an existing one.

import javax.naming.*;
import javax.naming.directory.*;
import java.util.*;


public class ADAMDemo {

final static String ldapServerName = "localhost";
final static int ldapPort = 389;

public static void main( String[] args ) {
// set up environment to access the server
Hashtable<String, String> env = new Hashtable<String,
String>();
env.put( Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY,
"com.netscape.jndi.ldap.LdapContextFactory" );
env.put( Context.PROVIDER_URL, "ldap://" + ldapServerName
+ ":" + ldapPort);
try {
// obtain initial directory context using the
environment
DirContext ctx = new InitialDirContext( env );

// create some random number to add to the
directory

a number by itself doesn't mean anything and is not designed to be put
into a directory on its own. You must create an object such as a user
object or computer object since you are working with ADS. And then
modify one of the predefined attributes. Since you don't seem to know
how LDAP works I suggest reading up on it first and also taking a look
at the ADS schema by using the Active Directory Schema MMC snap-in. I
presume this is available in ADAM. By browsing the directory schema you
can see what type of attributes a typical user can have. Also, if you
use ADSIedit you can see how attributes for a preexisting user are setup.

Integer i = new Integer( 28420 );

System.out.println( "Adding " + i + " to
directory..." );
ctx.bind("cn=myRandomInt", i);

You can't do this until myRandomInt is created using
ctx.createSubcontext() but again, there is no reason to store just an
integer. For the code below, ChangeObject is a class I created with the
'name' field being the distinguished name of the object.

public String createEntry(ChangeObject object) {
try {
ctx.createSubcontext(object.name, object.attribSet);
return null;
} catch (NameAlreadyBoundException Ex) {
return "Object already exists with that name.";
} catch (InvalidAttributesException Ex) {
return "Missing attributes.";
} catch (NamingException Ex) {
return Ex.getMessage();
} catch (Exception Ex) {
return Ex.toString();
}
}

To modify an existing object do something like this:
public String modEntry(ChangeObject object) {
LdapName nodeName = object.name;
BasicAttributes attrs = object.attribSet;
int operation = object.op;
try {
if (operation == 0)
ctx.modifyAttributes(nodeName,
InitialDirContext.ADD_ATTRIBUTE, attrs); else if (operation == 1)
ctx.modifyAttributes(nodeName,
InitialDirContext.REPLACE_ATTRIBUTE, attrs);
else if (operation == 2)
ctx.modifyAttributes(nodeName,
InitialDirContext.REMOVE_ATTRIBUTE, attrs);
return null;
} catch (NamingException Ex) {
return Ex.getMessage();
}
}

i = new Integer( 98765 );

System.out.println( "i is now: " + i );
i = (Integer) ctx.lookup( "cn=myRandomInt" );
System.out.println( "Retrieved i from directory
with value: " + i );
} catch ( NameAlreadyBoundException nabe ) {
System.err.println( "value has already been
bound!" );
} catch ( Exception e ) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}


thanks in advance. any kind of help is appreciated.


regards
amey

reply to the group if you need additional help

 

[Brandon McCombs]

Brandon,

thanks for your response.

however the example was from some tutorial that i was going through.
I could not find the source URL for the tutorial however
http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=578501&messageID=2917314
post also mentions the same example however the case is different.

also you can find the below mentioned tutorial
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-03-2000/jw-0324-ldap.html?page=3

// Create object to be bound
MyObject obj = new MyObject();
// Perform bind and specify codebase
BasicAttribytes battr = new
BasicAttributes("javaCodebase","http://myserver.com/classes")
ctx.bind("cn=anobject", obj, battr);

here also he is trying to add java object into the directory.

I didn't catch the first time that you were trying to add Java objects
specifically. In order to put Java objects into LDAP you must have a
schema that supports java objects. OpenLDAP has a schema file that
allows you to do so. I don't know what is in the file and so I don't
know if it will work with ADS/ADAM but I suggest you look into preparing
your ADAM schema for java objects if you want to store them.

I never used ctx.bind() to create new entries in ADS although it seems
you can. I'm not exactly sure though what the Java Doc means when it
says that bind() will bind an object to a name. In LDAP terminology a
bind means that a person connects to the ldap directory server which in
many cases is considered authenticating to the directory server.

i went through couple of tutorials which mentioned that JNDI is like
JDBC i.e. it only provides the interfaces and the implementation is
provided by the vendors. i beilieve netscape ldap sdk is one such
vendor.

that is correct

however i tried using JNDI tutorial examples without using netscape
ldap sdk, they also worked ( i got exceptions but those were more of
authentication and other stuff). so the point is even when my
ldapjdk.jar (from netscape) so the point is my ldapjdk.jar (from
netscape) was not in the classpath but still I could connect/ run the
program.

that is because you were using JNDI without knowing it but netscape's
API for JNDI will work with ADS but I found the native JNDI to be better
for ADS.

now my question is does java 5 comes with some in-built implementation
(provider) for JNDI ?

yes, that's what I use and isn't that what you just described above
where you said that ldapjdk.jar wasn't in your classpath but you could
still connect? If that happened then you already proved (assuming you
used java 5 to do it) to yourself that java 5 comes with JNDI. JNDI is
all within javax.naming.* and I believe it's been there since java 1.3
or so.

because from the tutorials it appeared as if they were only interfaces
and one would need to supply the 3rd party providers. i was using
"com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory" as the context factory.

no you weren't. Your code in your original mesg uses netscape's:
env.put( Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY,
"com.netscape.jndi.ldap.LdapContextFactory" );
env.put( Context.PROVIDER_URL, "ldap://" + ldapServerName
+ ":" + ldapPort);

But anyway, javax.naming.ldap.InitialLdapContext implements the
LdapContext interface and extends InitialDirContext so it will work
fine. I've already said in my initial response to you that I use the
native JNDI in Java for communicating with ADS. I didn't have to use any
one else's provider although you can but there is no need to.

Bottom line: don't use Netscape's JNDI provider because you don't need
it. If you want to store Java objects in ADS then you will need to know
the schema changes required to do so (you'll have to look that up
because I don't know what you'll need). I'd suggest experimenting with
adding/modifying native objects to ADS (native being user objects or
computer objects which ADS already uses because those are the object
classes that are used when you create a new user or add a workstation to
a domain) before you start trying to use java objects.

thanks in advance.

regards
amey

All,

I am a newbie to ldap. I have ADAM (Active Directory Application Mode)
as our LDAP server. I am using netscape's LDAP service provider SDK.

Why not just use native JNDI instead of netscape's JNDI service provider?

javax.naming.*;
javax.naming.directory.*;
javax.naming.ldap.*;

i was just trying the following snippet of code.
this should create the directory entry but i am gettin
NoSuchAttributeException at the bind statement.

Well after looking at your code it seems that you don't know how LDAP
really works. A piece of data doesn't go directly into the directory. An
attribute is stored in the directory with the piece of data as its value.

Example: You may want to store phone numbers for all your users. This
is a standard attribute called telephoneNumber and it is already created
to store integer values. Assigning a particular user's telephoneNumber
attribute a telphone number value would store that user's phone number
so anyone searching for that user could read his/her phone number. You
don't just store the number itself. It has to belong to someone.

LDAP uses object classes to define the objects that can exist. These are
similar to classes in Java or C++. An instance of an object class is an
object (user, printer, server, etc.) just like an instance of a Java
class is an object. The LDAP object contains various attributes such as
first name, last name, email address, etc. This is similar to how a
object in Java may have member fields.

what am i missing here ? also do i need to create something in the
schema in order to store Integer objects i nthe directory ?

Well it depends on what the integer is supposed to represent. If it is
just some arbitrary integer you wouldn't have any reason to store that
anyway. There are many standard attributes already defined that can hold
integer values. I mentioned telephoneNumber above but there are others
such as a fax number or employeeID. However, when working with LDAP
with JNDI integers are just treated as strings so you won't ever have a
need to create Integers.

also i have created an application specific partition while creating
ADAM instance. do i need to provide that in the PROVIDER_URL ?

Yes you will if you want to connect to that specific location in the
directory and create/delete an object or modify an existing one.

import javax.naming.*;
import javax.naming.directory.*;
import java.util.*;


public class ADAMDemo {

final static String ldapServerName = "localhost";
final static int ldapPort = 389;

public static void main( String[] args ) {
// set up environment to access the server
Hashtable<String, String> env = new Hashtable<String,
String>();
env.put( Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY,
"com.netscape.jndi.ldap.LdapContextFactory" );
env.put( Context.PROVIDER_URL, "ldap://" + ldapServerName
+ ":" + ldapPort);
try {
// obtain initial directory context using the
environment
DirContext ctx = new InitialDirContext( env );

// create some random number to add to the
directory

a number by itself doesn't mean anything and is not designed to be put
into a directory on its own. You must create an object such as a user
object or computer object since you are working with ADS. And then
modify one of the predefined attributes. Since you don't seem to know
how LDAP works I suggest reading up on it first and also taking a look
at the ADS schema by using the Active Directory Schema MMC snap-in. I
presume this is available in ADAM. By browsing the directory schema you
can see what type of attributes a typical user can have. Also, if you
use ADSIedit you can see how attributes for a preexisting user are setup.

Integer i = new Integer( 28420 );

System.out.println( "Adding " + i + " to
directory..." );
ctx.bind("cn=myRandomInt", i);

You can't do this until myRandomInt is created using
ctx.createSubcontext() but again, there is no reason to store just an
integer. For the code below, ChangeObject is a class I created with the
'name' field being the distinguished name of the object.

public String createEntry(ChangeObject object) {
try {
ctx.createSubcontext(object.name, object.attribSet);
return null;
} catch (NameAlreadyBoundException Ex) {
return "Object already exists with that name.";
} catch (InvalidAttributesException Ex) {
return "Missing attributes.";
} catch (NamingException Ex) {
return Ex.getMessage();
} catch (Exception Ex) {
return Ex.toString();
}
}

To modify an existing object do something like this:
public String modEntry(ChangeObject object) {
LdapName nodeName = object.name;
BasicAttributes attrs = object.attribSet;
int operation = object.op;
try {
if (operation == 0)
ctx.modifyAttributes(nodeName,
InitialDirContext.ADD_ATTRIBUTE, attrs); else if (operation == 1)
ctx.modifyAttributes(nodeName,
InitialDirContext.REPLACE_ATTRIBUTE, attrs);
else if (operation == 2)
ctx.modifyAttributes(nodeName,
InitialDirContext.REMOVE_ATTRIBUTE, attrs);
return null;
} catch (NamingException Ex) {
return Ex.getMessage();
}
}

i = new Integer( 98765 );

System.out.println( "i is now: " + i );
i = (Integer) ctx.lookup( "cn=myRandomInt" );
System.out.println( "Retrieved i from directory
with value: " + i );
} catch ( NameAlreadyBoundException nabe ) {
System.err.println( "value has already been
bound!" );
} catch ( Exception e ) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}


thanks in advance. any kind of help is appreciated.


regards
amey

reply to the group if you need additional help