Ldap – Oracle: replacing tnsnames.ora with LDAP lookup

ldaporacle

How do I go about replacing client-side tnsnames.ora with an ldap query?

I'm not interested in running Oracle LDAP, we have an existing LDAP infrastructure.

I need:

  • format of LDAP entry

  • how client is configured to fetch the LDAP connection information. Is this automatic in the OCI runtime?

Oracle 10.2 or 11.x if versions matter.

Best Answer

Oracle can "officially" only use OID or AD as LDAP servers. In LDAP.ORA (in $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin or $TNS_ADMIN) put:

DEFAULT_ADMIN_CONTEXT = “ou=ora,dc=company,dc=com”
DIRECTORY_SERVERS = (ldap1.company.com:389, ldap2.company.com:389)
DIRECTORY_SERVER_TYPE = OID

The type can be OID or AD. The multiple servers are for redundancy; it will not try each one in turn. Then in SQLNET.ORA:

NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH=(LDAP, TNSNAMES)

The means try LDAP first, then try TNSNAMES.ORA, then give up.

If you want to use a third-party LDAP server, Oracle has a product called Virtual Directory that will act as a proxy between them.

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