Re: Frustrated LDAP beginner

[Adam Williams <awilliam@whitemice.org>]

>I'm trying to start an LDAP effort in my company and am just not having 
>any luck.  I'm using SuSE 8.0's openldap2 and using "Directory 
>Administrator" (http://diradmin.open-it.org/index.php) which seems to be 
>a great OpenSOurce tool.

Yes, DA is a great tool.

>Some of the "suffix's" I see on the web use o=my-domain  rather than 
>dc=my-domain and they also use c=US
>I obviously am missing something here how do you know which to use and why.

See ftp://kalamazoolinux.org/pub/pdf/ldapv3.pdf

domain component bases are the preffered these days as you can use DNS
SRV to auto config

>I can "connect" to my new LDAP server with this tool, but when 
>attempting to create a group or a user I get:  "Invalid DN syntax"

You probably haven't create the ou.

>Also how do I get create organizational units to select from?  

>Should a "ou" be in slapd.conf?  

No, see ftp://kalamazoolinux.org/pub/pdf/ldapv3.pdf

>Do I have to do that from outside the tool?  

You could use gq.

>Are they even required?

Yes, see ftp://kalamazoolinux.org/pub/pdf/ldapv3.pdf

>Does anyone  have some good detailed examples of ldap config files and 
>command usage?  

Use the migration skips, it is a simple-step-by-step, there is nothing
to example.  See ftp://kalamazoolinux.org/pub/pdf/ldapv3.pdf

>All the stuff on the web is terrible.
 
I disagree, there are lots of good docs.  Your trying to LDAP without
acquiring any UNDERSTANDING of the data model.  You will fail.

>Need lots of examples!  After I figure all this out I'm posting my 
>experiences to the openldap listserver...

The OpenLDAP administrators manual has config file examples.  slapd.conf
is actually a very simple config file & format.