Virtual Directory Server 6.1 - Quick Start Guide

Processing (Stages)

Stages contain processing rules that intercept requests and responses, and act on them. There are many different plugins bundled with VDS that implement a variety of useful functionality out-of-the-box. It is also possible to write customized processing rules using the embedded DirectoryScript language, and insert them into a stage.

Two types of stages exist: automatic and manual. Automatic stages allow you to make use of the bundled plugins (also known as standard scriptlets or extensions) that come with VDS. These plugins are easily configured using DSGUI. Manual stages can be used by experienced users to write their own rules as scriptlets and then add these to hooks within a stage. A hook corresponds to a certain operation which is protocol specific - there can be one hook per operation type (per stage). In LDAP, for example,there is one hook for every protocol operation, such as REQ_BIND (BIND request), RES_BIND (BIND response), REQ_SEARCH (search request), RES_SEARCH_ENTRY (search entry), RES_SEARCH_DONE (search result), and so on.

If you are experimenting in order to learn VDS, we recommend that you create automatic stages and explore the bundled plugins. Then, you may want to look at creating manual stages with hooks, and associating conditions to those hooks.

Before You Start

Before you start this exercise, you must have the following:

1. VDS installed

2. An accessible LDAP Directory Server installed and running

If you do not have VDS installed on your computer, please refer to Installation chapter in the Dell One Identity Virtual Directory Server Administrator's Reference Manual for a description on how to do this.

This Quick Start tutorial assumes that you have an LDAP directory server running somewhere on your network that is accessible from your computer. You will need the following information regarding your LDAP server:

1. The host name or IP address of your LDAP server

2. The network port where your LDAP server is running

3. The Base DN (root tree) of your LDAP server

4. If your LDAP server requires authentication, you will also need a DN and password to authenticate to your LDAP server.

5. Last but not least, your LDAP server should contain some entries that are browsable.

If you do not have an LDAP server installed yet, you will need to set one up before you will be able to proceed. Please refer to the manuals of your chosen LDAP server for installation instructions.

If you need some sample data, you can use the samples provided by default with VDS. Sample data is stored withing the data subdirectory within the samples directory of your VDS installation. Sample data is stored as a set of LDIF files that can be loaded easily into an LDAP directory. If you choose to do this, make sure that you configure your LDAP server to create a root suffix for importing the sample data.

A Simple Configuration

In this example, we will create a very basic configuration that acts as a simple pass-thru LDAP proxy. No filtering, mapping or other advanced functionality will be used in this example.

Starting The GUI (DSGUI)

Linux / Solaris / AIX

In order to start the Graphical User Interface of VDS run "bin/dsgui" from /opt/dell/vds/std/ directory with the following command:

  bin/dsgui

(or just "dsgui" from /opt/dell/vds/std/ directory , if /opt/dell/vds/std/bin is in your PATH).

Windows

You can launch DSGUI using the "VDS" shortcut in your Start Menu (under Dell > VDS > RX.X.X).