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List:       ldap
Subject:    RE: Multi-valued RDNs: what are the options?
From:       Eric NISOLLE <Eric.NISOLLE () es ! nce ! sita ! int>
Date:       1996-08-21 15:35:29
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On Wed, 21 Aug 1996 11:18:41 +0100  Ed Oskiewicz wrote:
>I have also had to tackle the problem of disambiguating 
entries in a large
>corporate directory. I think the solution I used works but is 
illegal (or at
>least immoral). We have unique Employee Id Numbers and I 
constructed entries
>looking like:
>
>dn: cn=Joe Soap (123456), o=BT plc, c=gb	(1)
>cn: Joe Soap
>ein: 123456
>objectclass: BTperson
>
>The number at the right is for reference and is not part of 
the dn.
What do you mean "is not part of the dn" ?

if it is not part of the dn, you don't have a unique dn if 
another cn=Joe Soap works in o=BT plc

> It seems
>I should have actually used a dn like:
>
>dn: cn=Joe Soap+ein=123456, o=BT plc, c=gb	(2)
>
Exactly !

>However, given that dns only exist to uniquely label entries 
then the
>following would suffice:
>
>dn: ein=123456, o=BT plc, c=gb			(3)
>
This is possible as well. It depends on what you want to do.
If you have to display the dn to a user the (2) seems better; 
because it is more user friendly.
But if you want to make a batch appli. searching only with ein, 
(3) is fine.
 
>My questions/comments are:
>
>I believe the following to be true: In all three cases queries 
of the form
>cn=*soap* would return the same results (because you query the 
entry not the
>dn). Is this correct?
>
It is correct if in (3) you have cn=Joe Soap contained in the 
entry.

>If dns are never displayed, then the third form would seem to 
be preferable
>because it is most compact.
>

>Is the second form of multi-valued RDN actually part of some 
standard? If so
>where is it documented and what is the advantage over simple 
concatenation
>as in the first form?.

Using the first form (the ein being part of the cn), you can't 
do a successfull equality match search on "cn=Joe Soap". You 
need to do a substring match search "cn=Joe Soap". This is more 
time consuming than an equality match search.

Hope it helps,

Eric


-------------------------------------
Name: Eric Nisolle
E-mail: Eric.Nisolle@es.nce.sita.int
SITA, Sophia Antipolis, France.
Date: 08/21/96
Time: 15:35:29
-------------------------------------



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