Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Oracle America, Inc.

America Online, Inc.

Mark Christopher Smith

David Boreham

Peter Andrew Rowley

Gordon Scott Good

Olga L Natkovich

John Merrells

Gilles Bellaton

Pinaki Shah

Rich Megginson

Sylvain Duloutre

Ludivoc Poitou

Ludovic Poitou

Bindu Kaul Kaw

Robey Pointer

Role is a comprehensive grouping mechanism. In a client-server directory system, roles transfer some of the complexity to the directory server. A role is defined by its role definition entry. Any client with appropriate access privileges can discover, identify and examine any role definition. A 'managed' role is one that can be configured to provide search results similar to those available with a static grouping mechanism, i.e., to create a group entry that contains a list of members. Managed roles allow a user to create an explicit enumerated list of members. A managed role is a label stored with a directory entry.

Method and system for creating and utilizing managed roles in a directory system

A method of providing interoperability between an open standard directory service and a proprietary database. The directory is represented as a mapping tree, consistent with directory service protocols such as X.500 or LDAP. The mapping tree node associated with the proprietary database is configured as a null suffix mapping tree entry, so that database mapping tree node replaces root of the mapping tree and the proprietary database the default backend of the directory service. The core server of the directory service is configured to recognize the null suffix mapping tree entry. All directory service operations are routed to a pre-operation plug-in that handles operations in the proprietary database, and remaining operations are redirected to the core server, preserving default functionality of the directory service. Normal data constraints are suspended for operations performed in the proprietary database.

Data interoperability between open standard directory service and proprietary database

Role is a comprehensive grouping mechanism. In a client-server directory system, roles transfer some of the complexity to the directory server. A role is defined by its role definition entry. Assigning entries to roles enables applications to locate the roles of an entry, rather than select a group and browse the members list. Additionally, roles allow for support of generated attribute values, and directory server-performed membership verification for clients. By changing a role definition, a user can change an entire organization with ease. Any client with appropriate access privileges can discover, identify and examine any role definition.

Method and system for grouping entries in a directory server by group memberships defined by roles

A directory server including a supplier server, a consumer server in communication with the supplier server, a plurality of pluggable services that manage replication of data contained within the directory server from the supplier server to the consumer server, and a change sequence number used to determine ordering of operations performed on the consumer server. Replication of data is managed using the change sequence number.

Change sequence number generator

A method of entry distribution includes receiving requests by a chaining backend from an original client, forwarding requests from the chaining backend to a one of a plurality of remote servers, and returning results from the one of the plurality of remote servers to the original client. The chaining backend is a type of database plug-in that acts as a multiplexer including a directory information tree that provides the hierarchy of the plurality of remote servers.

Entry distribution in a directory server

Role is a comprehensive grouping mechanism used in a directory server. In a client-server directory system, roles transfer some of the complexity to the directory server. A role is defined by its role definition entry. Assigning entries to roles enables applications to locate the roles of a target entry, rather than select a group and browse the members list. By changing a role definition, a user can change an entire organization with ease. Any client with appropriate access privileges can discover, identify and examine any role definition. An enumerated role is one that contains a list of target entries as members. By simply searching for the membership of the enumerated role, a client application will obtain a list of all members that possess that enumerated role.

Enumerated roles in a directory system

A method of addressing an entry in a directory server including generating a unique identifier for the entry, creating an encoded address by encoding the unique identifier into a distinguished name, and specifying the entry using the encoded address for a plurality of operations. A method of addressing an entry in a directory server, including generating a unique identifier for the entry, creating an encoded address by encoding the unique identifier into a control, and specifying the entry using the encoded address for a plurality of operations. A unique identifier-based addressing system for a directory server, including a unique identifier generated for an entry and an encoded address created by encoding the unique identifier into a distinguished name. The entry is specified using the encoded address for a plurality of operations.

UniqueID-based addressing in a directory server

A directory server includes a supplier server, a consumer server in communication with the supplier server, a plurality of pluggable services that manage replication of data contained within the directory server from the supplier server to the consumer server, and a change log maintained on the consumer server of data replicated to the consumer server. The replication of data is managed by the plurality of pluggable services using the change log.

Replication architecture for a directory server

A method of bulk import in a directory server, including defining an extended operation on a server and a client, sending an extended operation request from the client to the server, performing the extended operation after receiving the extended operation request from the server, sending a response of the server back to the client specifying an object identifier of the extended operation and data specific to the extended operation; and performing a series of LDAP add operations framed by extended operations to import an entry into the directory server. A bulk import system for a directory server, including a processor, a memory, extended operations defined on a server and a client, and software instructions residing in memory executable on the processor for performing a series of LDAP add operations framed by extended operations to import an entry into the directory server.

Bulk import in a directory server

Role is a comprehensive grouping mechanism. In a client-server directory system, roles transfer some of the complexity to the directory server. A role is defined by its role definition entry. Any client with appropriate access privileges can discover, identify and examine any role definition. A &ldquo;managed&rdquo; role is one that can be configured to provide search results similar to those available with a static grouping mechanism, i.e., to create a group entry that contains a list of members. Managed roles allow a user to create an explicit enumerated list of members. A managed role is a label stored with a directory entry.

Several types of roles are disclosed herein. The difference between the role types relates to their capabilities, which in turn derive from how they are implemented. When a client application whishes to identify all entries with some characteristic, e.g., everyone who is a manager and works in a designated building, a filtered role, which uses an LDAP filter in order to search a designated portion of the directory system and to identify those entries that possess the characteristics described in filter, is used.

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Saline, MI, United States of America

Mark Christopher Smith