OpenLDAP is an open-source implementation of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), which is commonly used for centralized user management of Linux/Unix systems. This tutorial will guide you through the steps to install OpenLDAP on Arch Linux.
Before installing any new software, it is recommended to update the system by running the following command in the terminal:
sudo pacman -Syu
This will update all installed packages to their latest version.
To install OpenLDAP, run the following command in the terminal:
sudo pacman -S openldap
This will download and install the OpenLDAP package and its dependencies.
After installation completes, you need to configure the OpenLDAP server. The configuration file for OpenLDAP is located at /etc/openldap/slapd.conf. However, it is recommended to use the newer configuration file format which is located at /etc/openldap/slapd.d.
To start with, create a new configuration file at /etc/openldap/slapd.d/cn=config.ldif with the following content:
dn: cn=config
objectClass: olcGlobal
cn: config
olcArgsFile: /var/run/openldap/slapd.args
olcLogLevel: stats
dn: cn=schema,cn=config
objectClass: olcSchemaConfig
cn: schema
dn: cn=module,cn=config
objectClass: olcModuleList
cn: module
olcModulePath: /usr/lib/openldap
olcModuleLoad: back_mdb.so
dn: cn=config
changetype: modify
add: olcDatabase
olcDatabase: mdb
olcSuffix: dc=mydomain,dc=com
olcRootDN: cn=admin,dc=mydomain,dc=com
olcRootPW: {SSHA}P+ORM/qCAOPoKSvlGw5QJltl3xhx9851
olcDbDirectory: /var/lib/openldap-data
Modify the above configuration file with your own values. Replace dc=mydomain,dc=com with your own domain name, and replace cn=admin,dc=mydomain,dc=com with your own admin username.
In the above configuration, we are using the mdb database backend, which is the recommended backend for OpenLDAP. The configuration file also contains the location of the database directory, the root DN and root password.
Once the configuration file is created, you can start the OpenLDAP server by running:
sudo systemctl start slapd
To make sure that the OpenLDAP service starts at boot, you can enable it by running:
sudo systemctl enable slapd
To verify that OpenLDAP is running correctly, you can use the ldapsearch command:
sudo ldapsearch -x -b "" -s base "(objectclass=*)"
If everything is setup correctly, you should see some output that begins with # extended ldif.
In this tutorial, we have gone through the steps to install and configure OpenLDAP on Arch Linux. With OpenLDAP, you can now centralize user management across your Linux/Unix systems. If you encounter any issues during the installation, check the Arch Linux wiki for OpenLDAP for more information.
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