| Title: | LDAP System Administration |
| Authors: | Gerald Carter |
| Publisher: | O'Reilly |
| Pages: | 294 pages with index and appendix. |
| Reviewer: | Chris McAvoy |
| Synopsis: | LDAP System Administration touches on the power of LDAP, but doesn't pay off in the end. |
| Table of Contents | 1.'Now where did I put that...?', or 'What is a directory?' 2. LDAPv3 Overview 3. OpenLDAP 4. OpenLDAP: Building a Company White Pages 5. Replication, Referrals, Searching, and SASL Explained 6. Replacing NIS 7. Email and LDAP 8. Standard Unix Services and LDAP 9. LDAP Interoperability 10.Net::LDAP and Perl A. PAM and NSS B. OpenLDAP Command-Line Tools C. Common Attributes and Objects D. LDAP RFCs, Internet-Drafts, and Mailing Lists E. slapd.conf ACLs |
When O'Reilly announced LDAP System Administration as an upcoming title, I thought, "oh good, now's my chance to buckle down and learn it." I was encouraged when the book arrived, it was thin. Thin books, in my humble opinion, are the way to go. Thin means effective, lean, and a quick learn.
On the other hand, it could mean terrible, sparse, and more frustrating than helpful. LDAP System Administration, by Gerald Carter, falls somewhere in between. It answered some of my questions, but didn't clarify some other big ones.
There's a line in a song that goes, "Why do I need ID to get ID? If I had ID, I wouldn't need ID." Carter writes, "there are a handful of online sites that can be consulted to cover the most common schema items." That said, why do I need your book? This book, in large part, is a collection of pointers to relevant RFC's and man pages. Some things (like the schema example) are covered in the appendix, but never to the depth that you could feel confident enough to declare this the only LDAP book you'll need to get a job done. Concepts are touched on, but never fully explored. Carter knows what he's talking about, but has a hard time passing that knowledge on to the reader.
It's disappointing, as LDAP is high on my "things I should learn" list. The book is divided into two sections, Part 1: LDAP Basics, and Part 2: LDAP Integration. A basic introduction, then straight on to integration with existing systems, I'm all for thin books, but this is inadequate.
Taken in pieces, chapter one clarified a few things that the web was never able to for me, although, if I hadn't made a few attempts to learn from the OpenLDAP online documentation, the chapter would have driven me crazy. There are some interesting bits in the integration section, but only suggest possibilities without providing the meat to build off of.
I've tried (unsuccessfully) to learn LDAP from the web. It never "clicked" for me. I'd hoped that his book would fill in the gaps, it hasn't. Carter took on a big project, LDAP has multiple implementations on multiple platforms, trying to generalize across these different systems isn't an easy task. Unfortunately, instead of taking the issue head on and clearing the mud for us, he's chosen to throw up his hands and point us to the thick manual we're all ultimately afraid of.