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I was surprised at the editing and presentation - it wasn't up to usual O'Reilly standards. I was disappointed with the lack of schema level information - part of what I wanted from the book was an understanding of merging multiple schemas to provide cross -client compatibility of directory service usage - i.e. how can LDAP provide services compatible with Mozilla, Eudora, Outlook etc. with common data storage.
All in all, I learned a lot from this book, but I am still needing more material to complete the project I am working on - I'll have to find better documentation on schema considerations. Worth the price, but in need of better editing and a new edition.
If you are using Windows and some LDAP application this book does not contain a lot of information for you specific to the OS, but is a great reference for LDAP overall. Most of the code examples rely on Unix understandings. The review of access and OpenLDAP applies directly to numerous systems in understanding how rights are applied.
Replication and referrals is a great topic that is covered well for the beginner. For someone wanting advanced architecture ideas and designs, this chapter does not go deep enough for you. But I enjoyed it still letting me review and pick up a few items I was unaware of.
LDAP administrators that are just starting out, or even ones that have been doing LDAP for some time and need to secure or expand the directory infrastructure could benefit from this book.
However, it covers the down and dirty of implimenting OpenLDAP in detail. It covers:
-detailed slapd.conf configuration
-pam_ldap
-nss specific and pam specific configuration parameters in ldap.conf
-DNS implimentation with LDAP
-conversion tools
This book is an excellent guide on actually putting LDAP to work, including design, configuration and implimentation.
This book is NOT designed for people looking to impliment other LDAP software (iPlanet, etc). This book does not cover in depth enterprise level roll-out, research, and user feedback.
But if you want a great book that covers configuration and usage of OpenLDAP and Linux..this IS the book for you.
The book does an adequate job of explaining the whole installation process. It actually does miss the fact that when installing LDAP, you need to set two environment variables if your Berkeley DB location is non-standard. After a little searching, I found this on the web. Along these lines, it was good with explaining what your directory structure would look like after your install (which is helpful, as OpenLDAP blasts things all over the place) and how to start and stop the server. It also mentions various ways to set security levels and hashing techniques to make sure that your password is not stored in cleartext. So why only two stars?
The overall theme of this book is that it is extremely light on information. If you're the kind of person that likes a little handholding, do NOT get this book! On almost every topic, you'll be left saying, "Okay, where's the next example on this topic?", only to be left hanging. Creating custom schemas was covered in TWO pages (pgs 95-97)! There's no mention of integrating LDAP with the various app servers out there today (Java Servlet/Bean containers, PHP, ASP, etc.). None! Again, I had to search the web to find out how to do this. This led me to binding errors that, once again, the book did not address. Again (this will be a recurring theme), I found the answers on the net.
I hate to say it but there is nothing that this book provides that can not be found on the web very easily. It doesn't provide that golden nugget that you couldn't find anywhere else. Within a week, you'll have scrubbed it for all it's worth and will rely 100% on the web for info that the book should provide. Which brings up another point. It's annoying to spend nearly $30 on a book to constantly have the author tell you "For more information on this subject, look at reference..."). On two separate occasions I found myself saying, "Wait a minute! Why should I need another reference book for basic LDAP info? I thought I bought an LDAP book already!"
Trust me guys, this book is not worth buying at any price. I'm looking to sell mine now!
I managed to get my project done using web resources, magazine articles. No thanks to this book. After using the OpenLDAP site for help, I got a very weak address book going that held the minimum information. After launching the book into the corner of my office, I managed to get the full project done to 90% of where I want it to be.
He spends so much time pointing you to different RFCs, in essence, making you do all the work. The reference to where information comes from is great. Mention the RFCs but narrow the information down to help me solve problems.
I hope Oreilly can find an experienced author to re-write this book in a way that helps the people who fork over the money. I have tons of really good Oreilly books. This, however, is a poor poor poor book.
If you use LDAP in a serious way and need to REALLY understand the inner workings, get this book.
It is clearly written, to the point, and very valuable!
It pretty much exclusively talks about implementations using OpenLDAP. This was fine for me since it's what I'm using, but keep it in mind that not all information will be correct for your LDAP server (ACL's for instance)
I really wish I had this book when I started implementing LDAP. All the other books I bought wasted hundreds of pages talking about theory and developing applications for LDAP. This is the first book I've found that actually talks about USING LDAP.
Some sections feel a little unfinished. It could be a bit more detailed in areas and more discussion of the bumps you'll hit in an actual implemenation.
Even with the books minor problems, this book will pay for itself in the time it saves you from having to scour the web and mailing lists for answers. You'll still occasionally have to resort to the web and man pages to fill in the gaps. Hopefully the second edition will be more detailed.
Those who can, do; those who can't, write.
Those who can't write work for the Bell Labs Record.
Q: How many bureaucrats does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Two. One to assure everyone that everything possible is being
done while the other screws the bulb into the water faucet.
