Red Hat DIRECTORY SERVER 8.1 - DEPLOYMENT Deployment Manual page 48

Chapter 4. Designing the Directory Tree
Figure 4.5. Directory Tree for Example ISP
Beneath the root suffix entry o=example, c=US, the tree is split into three branches. The ISP branch
contains customer data and internal information for Example ISP. The Internet branch is the domain
tree. The groups branch contains information about the administrative groups.
Consider the following when choosing attributes for the branch points:
• Be consistent.
Some LDAP client applications may be confused if the distinguished name (DN) format is
inconsistent across the directory tree. That is, if l is subordinate to ou in one part of the directory
tree, then make sure l is subordinate to ou in all other parts of the directory service.
• Try to use only the traditional attributes (shown in
Using traditional attributes increases the likelihood of retaining compatibility with third-party LDAP
client applications. Using the traditional attributes also means that they are known to the default
directory schema, which makes it easier to build entries for the branch DN.
Attribute Name
dc
c
o
ou
38
Section 4.2.2.2, "Identifying Branch
Definition
An element of the domain name, such as
dc=example; this is frequently specified
in pairs, or even longer, depending on the
domain, such as dc=example,dc=com or
dc=mtv,dc=example,dc=com.
A country name.
An organization name. This attribute is typically
used to represent a large divisional branching
such as a corporate division, academic discipline
(the humanities, the sciences), subsidiary, or
other major branching within the enterprise, as in
Section 4.2.1.1, "Suffix Naming
An organizational unit. This attribute is
typically used to represent a smaller divisional
branching of the enterprise than an organization.
Organizational units are generally subordinate to
the preceding organization.
Points").
Conventions".