This document
contains information about the deployment of LDAP at the University of Virginia.
Overview
LDAP, the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, provides information about individuals in this community. The system automatically rebuilds the LDAP database daily from ITC's user database, keeping it up-to-date. All the information available through a whois lookup is available through the LDAP database.
The University's LDAP database does not link in with other LDAP databases on the Internet, meaning that our database can only return information about the University community.
You will need the following information to configure a client application:
- LDAP Server Name: ldap.virginia.edu
- Search base (or Search root): o=University of Virginia,c=US
LDAP Field Names
The LDAP database uses a different set of names to describe information than those used in the whois database. LDAP uses a standard schema to describe informational fields. The following table describes the various fields available through whois and through LDAP, as well a giving a brief description of each field:
| whois field | LDAP field | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | cn | Full name of the user. whois only carries a user's official name from administrative records. LDAP carries both the official name and any names from the University telephone directory. |
| Mailid/Handle | uid | The user's University Computing ID. The user database automatically assigns a unique Computing ID to each person for use on many of the University's computer systems. The system generates the ID from the user's initials plus a digit followed by one or two random letters. |
| Unix Uid | UnixUid | A unique numerical ID that UNIX-based systems use in addition to your computing ID for your account |
| Classification | description | A field describing the user's affiliation with the University as derived from administrative records |
| Department | ou | The department in which the user works or the primary school of attendance for students. 'ou' means 'Organizational Unit' to the LDAP server. Because of the size of some schools, such as the College of Arts and Sciences, the LDAP database subdivides students into pseudo-subdepartments based upon the course mnemonic and the first letter of the user's last name. For example, a student with the last name of Jones in the School of Engineering would have a department name of 'School of Engineering-jseas'. |
| Office Phone | telephoneNumber | University office telephone number. This field can contain up to two telephone numbers. |
| Fax Phone | OfficeFax facsimileTelephoneNumber |
FAX number for the user. LDAP carries this information twice because some clients look in the 'officefax' field for this information while others look in the 'facsimileTelephoneNumber' field. |
| Pager Number | pager | User's pager number. A whois search may also have a PIC number associated with this entry, which the University Hospital paging system uses. The LDAP database does not currently carry user's PIC numbers. |
| Mobile Phone | mobile | Cellular or other type of mobile phone number |
| Home Phone | homephone | Home telephone number for University faculty and staff. ITC does not currently publish local telephone numbers online for University students. |
| Registered Email Addr | mail mailForwardingAddress |
Members of the University community can 'register' their electronic mail address so that email addressed in the form of YourComputingID@Virginia.EDU (e.g. mst3k@Virginia.EDU) will get delivered to the proper account. The 'mailForwardingAddress' field in LDAP contains the account and machine name that the user registered for this service. |
| Email Alias | mailAlternateAddress | System-wide electronic mail aliases in the form of aliasname@Virginia.EDU (e.g. myalias@Virginia.EDU) |
| Department Address | postalAddress | The official University address for a particular department. This address is for internal mail (Messenger Mail) and for external (U.S.) mail |
| Office Address | physicalDeliveryOfficeName | A University building or a U.S. Mail address at which the user can receive printed mail |
| Room | roomNumber | The room number in a particular building in which the user works |
| N/A | cn | The LDAP CommonName field. This field provides a unique identifier for each user entry in the LDAP database. This field contains the user's official name, University Computing ID, department name, and the name of the University. |
| N/A | objectclass | An LDAP internal field that describes the type of entry |
| N/A | title | Title information from the University printed directory for faculty and for staff |
| N/A | sn | A field containing just the user's official surname from administrative records |
| N/A | givenName | A field containing just the user's first official name from administrative records |
| N/A | initials | A field containing just the user's official middle name from administrative records |
| N/A | generationQualifier | A field containing just the user's official name suffix (e.g. Jr.) from administrative records |
| N/A | jpegPhoto | A binary jpeg file which contains a photo uploaded by the user |
| N/A | PreferredEmailAddress | The email address the user prefers you to use when sending him or her email |
| N/A | AOLInstMessHandle | The America OnLine Instant Messenger handle for this user |
| N/A | MSNInstMessHandle | The Microsoft Network (MSN) Instant Messenger handle for this user |
| N/A | labeledUri | The URL of this user's home page |
| N/A | userCertificate | The public key for a user's U.Va. Standard Assurance personal certificate. Inserted when a certificate is obtained via the U.Va. PKI site. |