Introduction to Visual LDAP
Visual LDAP, is an LDAP client application that provides a visual interface to the online directory structure on an remote or local server. The data on the server is displayed in a tree hierarchy giving a clear picture of the information. All operations are simplified to mere point and click. It offers both access and update capabilities on a directory entry, allowing directory information to be managed as well as queried. Another salient feature is that, it can dump the information on the server onto an ASCII file using the LDIF standards and use this data dump to access and update the information on the local disk.
Note: The success of any LDAP operation is solely dependent upon the LDAP implementation of the connected server.
Login to the Ldap server.
For conducting any operation with an LDAP server, the first necessary step is to let the server know that you would like to conduct a set of LDAP operations on the server. This act is known as Binding to the server. When you start up the Client you will get a dialog box as shown, where the user provides the information required for a valid bind. This operation can also be evoked from the Open of main menu or from the Open toolbar button.
Note: For LDAP server compatibility the search filter is fixed at objectclass=*. The objectclass is a special attribute used by the LDAP.
Open the LDIF File.
For conducting any LDAP related operation with
an LDIF file, select the required LDIF file and specify the
search This operation can also be evoked from the Open of main
menu or from the Open 
toolbar button.
Note: For the LDIF file the filter has been fixed to objectclass=*, For LDAP server compatibility. Any entry which doesn’t has the attribute as objectclass=* would be ignored.
Refresh Operation.
Sends a search request to the server for the
selected entry and displays all the immediate child entries. This
operation can be implemented when the user requires to get the
latest search result from the server for the required node. This
operation can be evoked by the Refresh from main menu, the
Refresh 
toolbar
button or the popup menu.
Stop Operation
Sends an abandon signal to the server to stop last requested operation. Any results retrieved by the aborted operation may be incomplete. The server may have already completed the operation, and processed the results, when the Stop button is pressed. This may lead to a successful completion of the operation, inspite of abandoning the operation. The client may receive the response after a delay, which may be due to network latency.
This operation can be evoked by the Stop from
main menu or the Stop 
toolbar button.
Retrieve the next level from the current entry.
Expanding a tree from the required node would fire a search to the server, the entries received in response would be displayed as the next level. Incase there are no child entries for the selected entry then the current display would change to a leaf-node.
Adding an Attribute.
To add an attribute to the entry right-click in
the list view for the popup menu and select the ADD. The
following dialog would popup, where the user would need to add
the relevant details and upon confirmation the attribute details
are saved onto the server. This operation can also be evoked by
the Attribute-Add from main menu or the Add Attribute 
toolbar button.
Deleting an Attribute
To delete an attribute select from list and
right-click for the popup menu and select the DELETE, upon
confirmation the selected attribute details are delete from the
server. This operation can also be evoked by the Attribute-Delete
from main menu or the Delete Attribute 
toolbar button.
Modify an Attribute
To modify an attribute select from list and
right-click for the popup menu and select the REPLACE. The
current name & value pair would be displayed, where the user
can modify the value and upon confirmation the changes are saved
onto the server. In case of a blank value the attribute is
deleted. This operation can also be evoked by the
Attribute-Modify from main menu or the Modify Attribute 
toolbar button.
Adding an Entry.
To add an entry right-click in the tree view
and select the ADD menu, the following dialog would popup . Where
the user would need to add the RDN and the list of required
attributes and upon confirmation the new entry is saved on the
server and displayed as a child entry of the selected entry.
Incase of an incorrect RDN the error message is popup by the
server and the changes are ignored. This operation can also be
evoked by the Entry-Add from main menu or the Add Entry 
toolbar
button.
Note: The entry name should be the RDN only, as the server internally handles the creation of the DN based on the tree hierarchy.
Deleting an Entry.
To delete an entry right-click in the tree view
and select the DELETE menu, upon confirmation the selected entry
along with its attributes details are delete from the server. A
non-leaf node can’t be deleted .This operation can also be
evoked by the Entry-Delete from main menu or the Delete Entry 
toolbar
button.
Modifying an Entry.
To modify an entry right-click in the tree view
and select the MODIFY menu. The current DN would be displayed,
the user can modify the RDN and upon confirmation the changes are
saved onto the server. This operation can be also evoked by the
Entry-Modify from main menu or the Modify Entry 
toolbar button.
This feature allows the user to mark a particular node and the whole subtree below it for the cut operation. CUT operation is complete only when followed by a PASTE operation. Successful completion of this operation is subject to
This feature allows the user to mark a particular node and the whole subtree below it for the copy operation. COPY operation is complete only when followed by a PASTE operation. Successful completion of this operation is subject to permissions to create new nodes and its attributes in the Server/LDIF.
This operation does the actual job of creating new entries under the node requested. PASTE operation is enabled only when either CUT or COPY operation is done before it.
Close the Connection.
To close the connection to the server the user
is provided with a toolbar button and a menu option. This option
would stop all the current operation and disconnect from the
server. This operation can be evoked by the Close from main menu
or the Close 
toolbar button.
Save as LDIF
This option provides the facility to take the
data dump of the directory structure from the selected entry as
the LDIF format into a text file. This saving would be as per the
options and filename specified through the Settings option. This
operation can be evoked by the Save as LDIF from main menu, the
Save as LDIF 
toolbar button or the popup menu for the tree view.
The LDAP server denotes the name or the address of the remote/local machine on which the LDAP server is running.
Examples of freely available public LDAP servers:
ldap.four11.com
ldap.itd.umich.edu
ldap.utexas.edu
Note: These servers may not update operations.
The Internet directory protocol called LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is an Service protocol, which is simple but provides a wealth of features
Directories are special purpose databases, typically used for the hierarchical representation of the data.
The Directory server uses the LDIF (LDAP Data Interchange Format) to describe a directory and directory entries in ASCII format. LDIF is very commonly used to initially build a directory database, or to add large numbers of entries to the directory all at once. In addition, most of the directory server's command line tools rely on LDIF either for input or output. The LDIF format is produced and accepted by the search tools.
A directory entry is an set of attributes which holds the information about some object or concept in the real world. Entries are named according to their position in the hierarchy by a Distinguished Name (DN). Each component of the DN is called Relative Distinguished Name (RDN) and is composed of one or more attributes from the entry. The DN is the first and required attribute in the entry.
Example:
dn: cn=Barbara Jensen, o=Ace Industry, c=US
cn: Barbara Jensen
cn: Babs Jensen
sn: Jensen
mail: babs@aceindustry.com
objectclass: person
objectclass: top
objectclass: inetorgperson
An attribute is a name and value pair. The name of an attribute has an associated syntax that defines what kind of information is allowed to be stored in the attribute’s value. And how those values behave during a search and other directory operations.
Example: cn: Barbara Jensen
Here the cn is the name of the attribute and the Barbara Jensen is the value of the attribute.
Note: Which attribute names are allowed in an entry is controlled by the content rules defined on per-server basis or in the value of a special attribute called the objectclass.
The Port Number on the remote machine where the LDAP server is listening for activity. The typical port used for LDAP is 389 and all public servers will be available at this port.
The Distinguished Name of the location on the server to which to connect to. Once connected to a particular Distinguished Name you will be able to perform LDAP specific operations. Note that some of the operations (where you may directly change values or may perform operations which may make changes in the database.) requires you to login using a password and login ID. In general you must be able to perform searches etc., on any part of the server without authorization.
For normal LDAP Databases, binding with a NULL DN (i.e. specifying a blank field as the Bind DN) will connect you to the root of the Directory Tree.
For authentication mechanism of the LDAP server a user would need to login as an authorized client. In some servers the password and the login ID is deduced from the password, and in other servers your binding DN is taken as the login ID and the supplied password is taken as your password.
For typical LDAP Databases, binding with a NULL Password (i.e. specifying a blank field as the Password ) will connect you to the Directory Tree and will allow search operations only.
This is a valid Distinguished Name (DN) of an entry that will be used as the search base (from where the search will start). The user will be able to view and manipulate only the entries lying under the specified search base in the directory hierarchy. By choosing an appropriate search base the user can make sure that the search results are pertaining to his needs. If an invalid search base is given the search cannot proceed further.
A search filter (what to search for) can be to get what you want in the least possible time and to try to get information into as small a group as possible which will satisfy all our search criteria. By using a smart filter, you can make sure that the amount of data, which will be returned to your search query, will be the minimum and tailored to your requirement.
In this version the a default filter objectclass=* has been set for compatibility to the LDAP version 3.0.
Pop ups the following File Dialog for selection of a LDIF file.
The Distinguished Name of a directory entry. DN is analogous to the path of a file in the file system.
Each component of the DN is called Relative Distinguished Name and is composed of one or more attributes from the entry .RDN is analogous to the name of a file in the file system.
The Distinguished Name of a directory entry. DN is analogous to the path of a file in the file system.
Each component of the DN is called Relative Distinguished Name and is composed of one or more attributes from the entry .RDN is analogous to the name of a file in the file system
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
The Internet directory protocol called LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is an Service protocol, which is simple but provides a wealth of features
The Directory server uses the LDIF (LDAP Data Interchange Format) to describe a directory and directory entries in ASCII format. LDIF is very commonly used to initially build a directory database, or to add large numbers of entries to the directory all at once. In addition, most of the directory server's command line tools rely on LDIF either for input or output. The LDIF format is produced and accepted by the search tools.