LDIF File Format

Linux Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)

∟LDIF File Format

Describes LDIF (LDAP Data Interchange Format) - a text file format to represent LDAP data entries and change requests. LDIF files are widely used by tools to manage LDAP server databases.

What Is LDIF File Format? LDIF (LDAP Data Interchange Format) is a text file format to represent LDAP data entries and change requests. LDIF is specified by the RFC 2849: "The LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) - Technical Specification" at https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2849.

Important rules of LDIF are:

LDIF file is UTF-8 encoded text file, which supports Unicode characters.
LDIF uses blank lines to separate entries.
LDIF ignores comment lines that starts with "#"
Each entry starts with the "dn: ..." line to specify DN (Distinguished Name) of the entry.
The "dn: ..." line is followed by the "changetype: ..." line to define a change request for the existing entry identified by the DN.
The "dn: ..." line is followed by the "objectClass: ..." lines to define a new entry inheriting attributes from those given classes.
Attributes required by each class must be provided with values.

Here are commonly used objectClass names and their required attributes.

objectClass            Required Attributes
-----------            -------------------
account                userid
organization           o
person                 cn, sn
organizationalPerson   cn, sn
organizationalRole     cn
organizationUnit       ou
posixGroup             cn, gidNumber
posixAccount           cn, gidNumber, homeDirectory, uid, uidNumber

Here is an example of a LDIF with a new LDAP entry and LDAP change request:

# Entry entry for Joe Doe
dn: cn=Joe Doe,ou=IT,dc=herongyang,dc=com
objectClass: inetOrgPerson
cn: Joe Doe
sn: Doe
givenName: Joe
mail: joe@herongyang.com

# Change request for Bob Lee
dn: cn=Bob Lee,ou=IT,dc=herongyang,dc=com
changetype: modify
replace: mail
mail: bob_lee@herongyang.com