Net8 Entries in a Directory

Entries in a directory are arranged into a hierarchical tree-like structure based on their Distinguished Name (DN). This tree of directory entries is called the Directory Information Tree (DIT). Each entry contains one or more attributes that describe the entry.

Net8 entries in a DIT can either be a net service name or the actual name of the service. All Net8 entries appear under an Oracle Context, which is a hidden Oracle object entry named cn=OracleContext. This subtree is created in a user-specified location in the DIT during a Custom installation on the server. Clients are configured with access to the directory and a default administrative context from which to look up entries. This information is stored in a local configuration file on the client called ldap.ora file.

Each entry contains one or more attributes that describe the entry. Each attribute has a type and a value. For example, the directory entry for a net service name has the following attributes:

- Common name

- Version of entry

- Connect descriptor

The next figure shows a DIT with entries for two database services called sales, which reside under hierarchical domain structures of mktg.uk.acme.com and us.acme.com.

Each entry is identified by a unique DN.

In the above figure, dc stands for a domain component, ou stands for an organizational unit and cn stands for a common name. dc=acme,dc=com stands for the organization acme.com. The UK and the US organizations are clearly identified by their individual domain components dc=uk and dc=us, respectively. The UK organization of ACME is further identified by two distinct organizational units called ou=mktg (for marketing) and ou=acctg (for accounting). There are two sales services available in ou=mktg,dc=uk and dc=us, respectively.

The two sales objects have DNs of:

cn=sales,dc=us,dc=acme,dc=com

cn=sales,ou=mktg,dc=uk,dc=acme,dc=com