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slapo-pcache(5)





NAME

       slapo-pcache - proxy cache overlay to slapd


SYNOPSIS

       /etc/openldap/slapd.conf


DESCRIPTION

       The  pcache  overlay to slapd(8) allows caching of LDAP search requests
       (queries) in a local database.  For an incoming query, the proxy  cache
       determines its corresponding template. If the template was specified as
       cacheable using the pcacheTemplate directive and the  request  is  con-
       tained  in a cached request, it is answered from the proxy cache.  Oth-
       erwise, the search is performed as usual and cacheable  search  results
       are saved in the cache for use in future queries.

       A template is defined by a filter string and an index identifying a set
       of attributes. The template string for  a  query  can  be  obtained  by
       removing  assertion  values  from  the  RFC  4515 representation of its
       search filter. A query belongs to a template if its template string and
       set  of projected attributes correspond to a cacheable template.  Exam-
       ples of template strings  are  (mail=),  (|(sn=)(cn=)),  (&(sn=)(given-
       Name=)).

       The  config  directives  that are specific to the pcache overlay can be
       prefixed by pcache-, to avoid conflicts with directives specific to the
       underlying database or to other stacked overlays.  This may be particu-
       larly useful for those directives that refer to the  backend  used  for
       local  storage.  The following cache specific directives can be used to
       configure the proxy cache:

       overlay pcache
              This directive adds the proxy cache overlay to the current back-
              end. The proxy cache overlay may be used with any backend but is
              intended for use with the ldap, meta, and sql  backends.  Please
              note that the underlying backend must have a configured rootdn.

       pcache <database> <max_entries> <numattrsets> <entry_limit> <cc_period>
              The  directive  enables proxy caching in the current backend and
              sets general cache parameters. A <database> backend will be used
              internally  to  maintain the cached entries. The chosen database
              will need to be  configured  as  well,  as  shown  below.  Cache
              replacement   is   invoked   when   the   cache  size  grows  to
              <max_entries> entries and continues till the  cache  size  drops
              below this size.  <numattrsets> should be equal to the number of
              following pcacheAttrset directives. Queries are cached  only  if
              they  correspond  to a cacheable template (specified by the pca-
              cheTemplate directive) and the number  of  entries  returned  is
              less  than  <entry_limit>.  Consistency check is performed every
              <cc_period> duration (specified in secs). In each cycle  queries
              with  expired  "time  to  live(TTL)" are removed. A sample cache
              configuration is:

              pcache bdb 10000 1 50 100

       pcacheAttrset <index> <attrs...>
              Used to associate a set of attributes <attrs..> with an <index>.
              Each  attribute  set  is  associated  with  an integer from 0 to
              <numattrsets>-1. These indices are used  by  the  pcacheTemplate
              directive  to  define  cacheable templates.  A set of attributes
              cannot be empty.  A set of attributes can  contain  the  special
              attributes  "*"  (all  user  attributes),  "+"  (all operational
              attributes) or both; in the latter case, any other attribute  is
              redundant   and  should  be  avoided  for  clarity.   A  set  of
              attributes can contain "1.1" as  the  only  attribute;  in  this
              case,  only  the  presence of the entries is cached.  Attributes
              prefixed by "undef:" need not be present in the schema.

       pcacheMaxQueries <queries>
              Specify the maximum number of queries to cache. The  default  is
              10000.

       pcacheValidate { TRUE | FALSE }
              Check  whether  the results of a query being cached can actually
              be returned from the cache by the proxy DSA.  When enabled,  the
              entries  being returned while caching the results of a query are
              checked to ensure consistency with the schema known to the proxy
              DSA.   In case of failure, the query is not cached.  By default,
              the check is off.

       pcacheOffline { TRUE | FALSE }
              Set the cache to offline mode. While  offline,  the  consistency
              checker  will  be  stopped  and  no expirations will occur. This
              allows the cache contents to  be  used  indefinitely  while  the
              proxy  is  cut  off  from network access to the remote DSA.  The
              default is FALSE, i.e. consistency checks and  expirations  will
              be performed.

       pcachePersist { TRUE | FALSE }
              Specify  whether  the  cached  queries  should  be  saved across
              restarts of the caching proxy, to provide  hot  startup  of  the
              cache.   Only  non-expired queries are reloaded.  The default is
              FALSE.

              CAVEAT: of course, the configuration of the proxy cache must not
              change  across restarts; the pcache overlay does not perform any
              consistency checks in this sense.  In detail, this option should
              be disabled unless the existing pcacheAttrset and pcacheTemplate
              directives are not changed neither in order nor in contents.  If
              new  sets  and  templates  are added, or if other details of the
              pcache overlay configuration changed, this feature should not be
              affected.

       pcacheTemplate   <template_string>   <attrset_index>   <ttl>  [<negttl>
       [<limitttl> [<ttr>]]]
              Specifies a cacheable template  and  "time  to  live"  <ttl>  of
              queries  belonging  to the template. An optional <negttl> can be
              used to  specify  that  negative  results  (i.e.,  queries  that
              returned  zero  entries) should also be cached for the specified
              amount of time. Negative  results  are  not  cached  by  default
              (<negttl>  set  to  0).   An  optional <limitttl> can be used to
              specify that results hitting a sizelimit should also  be  cached
              for  the  specified amount of time.  Results hitting a sizelimit
              are not cached by default (<limitttl> set to  0).   An  optional
              <ttr>  "time  to  refresh"  can  be  used to specify that cached
              entries should be automatically refreshed after a certain  time.
              Entries  will  only be refreshed while they have not expired, so
              the <ttl> should be larger than the <ttr> for this option to  be
              useful. Entries are not refreshed by default (<ttr> set to 0).

       pcacheBind <filter_template> <attrset_index> <ttr> <scope> <base>
              Specifies  a  template for caching Simple Bind credentials based
              on an already defined pcacheTemplate. The  <filter_template>  is
              similar to a <template_string> except that it may have some val-
              ues present. Its purpose is to allow  the  overlay  to  generate
              filters  similar  to  what  other applications do when they do a
              Search immediately  before  a  Bind.  E.g.,  if  a  client  like
              nss_ldap  is  configured  to  search  for a user with the filter
              "(&(objectClass=posixAccount)(uid=<username>))" then the  corre-
              sponding  template  "(&(objectClass=posixAccount)(uid=))" should
              be  used  here.  When  converted  to  a  regular  template  e.g.
              "(&(objectClass=)(uid=))"  this template and the <attrset_index>
              must match an already defined pcacheTemplate clause.  The  "time
              to  refresh"  <ttr> determines the time interval after which the
              cached credentials may be refreshed. The first Bind request that
              occurs  after  that  time  will  trigger  the  refresh  attempt.
              Refreshes are not performed when the overlay is  Offline.  There
              is  no  "time  to  live" parameter for the Bind credentials; the
              credentials will expire according to the pcacheTemplate ttl. The
              <scope>  and  <base> should match the search scope and base used
              by the authentication clients. The cached  credentials  are  not
              stored  in cleartext, they are hashed using the default password
              hash.  By default Bind caching is not enabled.

       pcachePosition { head | tail }
              Specifies whether the response callback should be placed at  the
              tail (the default) or at the head (actually, wherever the stack-
              ing sequence would make it appear) of the callback  list.   This
              affects how the overlay interacts with other overlays, since the
              proxycache overlay should be executed as early as possible  (and
              thus  configured as late as possible), to get a chance to return
              the cached results; however, if executed early at  response,  it
              would  cache entries that may be later "massaged" by other data-
              bases and thus returned after  massaging  the  first  time,  and
              before massaging when cached.

       There are some constraints:

              all values must be positive;

              <entry_limit> must be less than or equal to <max_entries>;

              <numattrsets>  attribute  sets  SHOULD  be  defined by using the
              directive pcacheAttrset;

              all attribute sets SHOULD be referenced by (at least)  one  pca-
              cheTemplate directive;

       The  following  adds a template with filter string (&(sn=)(givenName=))
       and attributes mail, postaladdress, telephonenumber  and  a  TTL  of  1
       hour.

              pcacheAttrset 0 mail postaladdress telephonenumber
              pcacheTemplate (&(sn=)(givenName=)) 0 3600

       Directives  for configuring the underlying database must also be given,
       as shown here:

              directory /var/tmp/cache
              cachesize 100

       Any valid directives for the chosen database type may be used. Indexing
       should  be  used as appropriate for the queries being handled. In addi-
       tion, an equality index on the pcacheQueryid attribute should  be  con-
       figured, to assist in the removal of expired query data.


BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY

       The configuration keywords have been renamed and the older form is dep-
       recated. These older keywords are still recognized but may disappear in
       future releases.

       proxycache
              use pcache

       proxyattrset
              use pcacheAttrset

       proxycachequeries
              use pcacheMaxQueries

       proxycheckcacheability
              use pcacheValidate

       proxysavequeries
              use pcachePersist

       proxytemplate
              use pcacheTemplate

       response-callback
              use pcachePosition


CAVEATS

       Caching  data is prone to inconsistencies because updates on the remote
       server will not be reflected in the response of the cache at least (and
       at  most)  for the duration of the pcacheTemplate TTL.  These inconsis-
       tencies can be minimized by careful use of the TTR.

       The remote server should expose the objectClass attribute  because  the
       underlying  database  that  actually caches the entries may need it for
       optimal local processing of the queries.

       The proxy server should contain all the schema information required for
       caching.   Significantly, it needs the schema of attributes used in the
       query templates.  If the objectClass attribute is used in a query  tem-
       plate,  it  needs the definition of the objectClasses of the entries it
       is supposed to cache.  It is the responsibility of the  proxy  adminis-
       trator  to  keep  the  proxy  schema  lined up with that of the proxied
       server.

       Another potential (and subtle) inconsistency may  occur  when  data  is
       retrieved  with  different  identities and specific per-identity access
       control is enforced by the remote server.  If data was  retrieved  with
       an identity that collected only partial results because of access rules
       enforcement on the remote server, other  users  with  different  access
       privileges  on  the  remote  server will get different results from the
       remote server and from the cache.  If those users  have  higher  access
       privileges  on  the  remote server, they will get from the cache only a
       subset of the results they would get directly from the  remote  server;
       but  if they have lower access privileges, they will get from the cache
       a superset of the results they  would  get  directly  from  the  remote
       server.   Either  occurrence may or may not be acceptable, based on the
       security policy of the cache and of the remote server.  It is important
       to  note  that  in this case the proxy is violating the security of the
       remote server by disclosing to an identity data that was  collected  by
       another  identity.   For  this reason, it is suggested that, when using
       back-ldap, proxy caching be  used  in  conjunction  with  the  identity
       assertion  feature  of  slapd-ldap(5)  (see  the  idassert-bind and the
       idassert-authz statements), so that remote server interrogation  occurs
       with  a  vanilla identity that has some relatively high search and read
       access privileges, and the "real" access control is  delegated  to  the
       proxy's  ACLs.   Beware that since only the cached fraction of the real
       datum is available to the cache, it may not be possible to enforce  the
       same access rules that are defined on the remote server.  When security
       is a concern, cached proxy access must be carefully tailored.


FILES

       /etc/openldap/slapd.conf
              default slapd configuration file


SEE ALSO

       slapd.conf(5),    slapd-config(5),    slapd-ldap(5),     slapd-meta(5),
       slapd-sql(5), slapd(8).


AUTHOR

       Originally  implemented  by  Apurva Kumar as an extension to back-meta;
       turned into an overlay by Howard Chu.

OpenLDAP 2.4.36                   2013/08/17                   SLAPO-PCACHE(5)

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