[Fedora-directory-users] mail aliases

[Craig White]

What I used to do in openldap was use an objectclass
inetLocalMailRecipient which was defined in the 'misc.schema' and my
primary usage was to use an attribute inetLocalMailAddress to stuff
additional addresses as aliases because I struggled with multiple values
in the mail attribute.

Obviously I can import the openldap schema that I was using into FDS but
now I am thinking that it is probably a better idea to re-examine my
usage.

To reduce my questions to basic...

- is the mail attribute multi-valued? 

- How do I determine which attributes are multi-valued?

- Is there an attribute better used for mail aliases?

Thanks

Craig

[Mike Jackson]

Craig White wrote:
>  What I used to do in openldap was use an objectclass
>  inetLocalMailRecipient which was defined in the 'misc.schema' and my
>  primary usage was to use an attribute inetLocalMailAddress to stuff
>  additional addresses as aliases because I struggled with multiple values
>  in the mail attribute. 
The mail attribute is not multi-valued.


>  Obviously I can import the openldap schema that I was using into FDS
> but
>  now I am thinking that it is probably a better idea to re-examine my
>  usage. 
Why?


>  To reduce my questions to basic...
>  
>  - is the mail attribute multi-valued?  
No.

>  - How do I determine which attributes are multi-valued? 
Attributes are multi-valued by default. If you want them to be 
single-valued, you must specify it in the schema:

attributeTypes: (
   1.3.6.1.4.1.300.1.8.1
   NAME 'fooName'
   DESC 'Foo Name'
   SYNTAX 1.3.6.1.4.1.1466.115.121.1.26
   SINGLE-VALUE
   )

>  - Is there an attribute better used for mail aliases? 
That depends on the usage. If you are setting up an MTA to do deliveries 
based on LDAP queries, then the MTA might use multiple attributes.

Qmail-LDAP reads "mail" first, and then "mailAlternateAddress" (which
is 
multi-valued) second. So, with Qmail-LDAP, a user's main address is 
assigned to mail and all subsequent addresses are assigned to 
mailAlternateAddress.

See the following schema for examples:

http://www.bayour.com/openldap/schemas/qmail.schema


--
mike

[Pierangelo Masarati]

On Sat, 2005-12-10 at 13:47 +0200, Mike Jackson wrote:
>  > - is the mail attribute multi-valued? 
>  
>  No. 
?!? 

from RFC 2798:

    ( 0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.3
      NAME 'mail'
      EQUALITY caseIgnoreIA5Match
      SUBSTR caseIgnoreIA5SubstringsMatch
      SYNTAX 1.3.6.1.4.1.1466.115.121.1.26{256} )

p.




Ing. Pierangelo Masarati
Responsabile Open Solution

SysNet s.n.c.
Via Dossi, 8 - 27100 Pavia - ITALIA
http://www.sys-net.it
------------------------------------------
Office:   +39.02.23998309          
Mobile:   [phone]
Email:    pierangelo.masarati(a)sys-net.it
------------------------------------------

[Mike Jackson]

Pierangelo Masarati wrote:
>  On Sat, 2005-12-10 at 13:47 +0200, Mike Jackson wrote:
>  
> >>- is the mail attribute multi-valued? 
> >
> >No.
>  
>  
>  ?!? 
>  
>  from RFC 2798:
>  
>      ( 0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.3
>        NAME 'mail'
>        EQUALITY caseIgnoreIA5Match
>        SUBSTR caseIgnoreIA5SubstringsMatch
>        SYNTAX 1.3.6.1.4.1.1466.115.121.1.26{256} )
>  
>   
Sorry, I contradicted myself :-)

--
mike

[Craig White]

On Sat, 2005-12-10 at 13:47 +0200, Mike Jackson wrote:
>  Craig White wrote:
>  > What I used to do in openldap was use an objectclass
>  > inetLocalMailRecipient which was defined in the 'misc.schema' and my
>  > primary usage was to use an attribute inetLocalMailAddress to stuff
>  > additional addresses as aliases because I struggled with multiple values
>  > in the mail attribute.
>  
>  The mail attribute is not multi-valued.
>  
>  
>  > Obviously I can import the openldap schema that I was using into FDS but
>  > now I am thinking that it is probably a better idea to re-examine my
>  > usage.
>  
>  Why?
>  
>  
>  > To reduce my questions to basic...
>  > 
>  > - is the mail attribute multi-valued? 
>  
>  No.
>  
>  > - How do I determine which attributes are multi-valued?
>  
>  Attributes are multi-valued by default. If you want them to be 
>  single-valued, you must specify it in the schema:
>  
>  attributeTypes: (
>     1.3.6.1.4.1.300.1.8.1
>     NAME 'fooName'
>     DESC 'Foo Name'
>     SYNTAX 1.3.6.1.4.1.1466.115.121.1.26
>     SINGLE-VALUE
>     )
>  
>  > - Is there an attribute better used for mail aliases?
>  
>  That depends on the usage. If you are setting up an MTA to do deliveries 
>  based on LDAP queries, then the MTA might use multiple attributes.
>  
>  Qmail-LDAP reads "mail" first, and then "mailAlternateAddress" (which
> is 
>  multi-valued) second. So, with Qmail-LDAP, a user's main address is 
>  assigned to mail and all subsequent addresses are assigned to 
>  mailAlternateAddress.
>  
>  See the following schema for examples:
>  
>  http://www.bayour.com/openldap/schemas/qmail.schema 
----
OK - I don't use Qmail and it does require loading an alternate schema
which means that I am no better off than just keep doing the things that
I've been doing which is the use the 'misc' schema from openldap.

I am capable of entering multiple values into 'mail' attribute but have
had some issues with delivery when I used them which is when I went the
alternative attribute for mail aliases.

Thanks

Craig

[Kevin M. Myer]

Craig,

I've been using:

objectClasses: ( 1.3.6.1.4.1.10147.1 NAME 'inetLocalMailRecipient' SUP inetorg
person STRUCTURAL MAY ( mailAlternateAddress $ mailHost $ mailRoutingAddress
  ) X-ORIGIN 'user defined' )

The attributes already exist with FDS, but I used that objectclass 
because of some legacy configs that had it (for reasons I forget - 
maybe because it was what OpenLDAP used at the time, but my Netscape 
Directory server had the other attributes for NS Messaging services).  
Works fine for me - aliases go in mailAlternateAddress, final 
destination mailbox is mailRoutingAddress.  The mail attribute is 
what's displayed publicly for address book type lookups.  Postfix 
checks mailAlternateAddress, if it finds a match, it relays the message 
to the account at mailRoutingAddress.

Kevin
-- 
Kevin M. Myer
Senior Systems Administrator
Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13  http://www.iu13.org

[Pierangelo Masarati]

On Mon, 2005-12-12 at 15:34 -0500, Kevin M. Myer wrote:
>  Craig,
>  
>  I've been using:
>  
>  objectClasses: ( 1.3.6.1.4.1.10147.1 NAME 'inetLocalMailRecipient' SUP inetorg
>  person STRUCTURAL MAY ( mailAlternateAddress $ mailHost $ mailRoutingAddress
>    ) X-ORIGIN 'user defined' )
>  
>  The attributes already exist with FDS, but I used that objectclass 
>  because of some legacy configs that had it (for reasons I forget - 
>  maybe because it was what OpenLDAP used at the time, but my Netscape 
>  Directory server had the other attributes for NS Messaging services).  
>  Works fine for me - aliases go in mailAlternateAddress, final 
>  destination mailbox is mailRoutingAddress.  The mail attribute is 
>  what's displayed publicly for address book type lookups.  Postfix 
>  checks mailAlternateAddress, if it finds a match, it relays the message 
>  to the account at mailRoutingAddress. 
That definitely sounds like a personalization of <draft-lachman-laser-
ldap-mail-routing>, which expired in 2001 and was initially implemented
in sendmail and later replaced by more sophisticated inhouse schemas,
while other MTAs directly took their own direction.  Only, that draft
uses mailLocalAddress instead of mailAlternateAddress (which definitely
sounds like a Netscape dfined attribute), and it's AUXILIARY rather than
derived from inetOrgPerson.

p.





Ing. Pierangelo Masarati
Responsabile Open Solution

SysNet s.n.c.
Via Dossi, 8 - 27100 Pavia - ITALIA
http://www.sys-net.it
------------------------------------------
Office:   +39.02.23998309          
Mobile:   [phone]
Email:    pierangelo.masarati(a)sys-net.it
------------------------------------------