openldap Installation Guide Installation Guide

openldap is a free and open-source open source LDAP directory server. OpenLDAP provides directory services for user authentication and authorization, serving as an alternative to Microsoft Active Directory or Oracle Directory Server

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 512MB minimum (2GB+ recommended)

Storage: 1GB for directory data

Network: LDAP and LDAPS protocols

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 389 (default openldap port)

Port 636 for LDAPS

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install openldap
sudo dnf install -y slapd

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now slapd

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=389/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
slapd -V

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install openldap
sudo apt install -y slapd

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now slapd

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 389

# Verify installation
slapd -V

bash

# Install openldap
sudo pacman -S slapd

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now slapd

# Verify installation
slapd -V

bash

# Install openldap
apk add --no-cache slapd

# Enable and start service
rc-update add slapd default
rc-service slapd start

# Verify installation
slapd -V

bash

# Install openldap
sudo zypper install -y slapd

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now slapd

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=389/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
slapd -V

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install slapd

# Start service
brew services start slapd

# Verify installation
slapd -V

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install slapd

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'slapd_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service slapd start

# Verify installation
slapd -V

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install slapd

# Or using Scoop
scoop install slapd

# Verify installation
slapd -V

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/slapd

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
slapd -V

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable slapd

# Start service
sudo systemctl start slapd

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop slapd

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart slapd

# Check status
sudo systemctl status slapd

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u slapd -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add slapd default

# Start service
rc-service slapd start

# Stop service
rc-service slapd stop

# Restart service
rc-service slapd restart

# Check status
rc-service slapd status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'slapd_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service slapd start

# Stop service
service slapd stop

# Restart service
service slapd restart

# Check status
service slapd status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start slapd
brew services stop slapd
brew services restart slapd

# Check status
brew services list | grep slapd

powershell

# Start service
net start slapd

# Stop service
net stop slapd

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service slapd
Stop-Service slapd
Restart-Service slapd

# Check status
Get-Service slapd

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream slapd_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:389;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name slapd.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name slapd.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/slapd.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/slapd.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://slapd_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName slapd.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://slapd.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName slapd.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/slapd.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/slapd.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:389/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:389/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend slapd_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/slapd.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend slapd_backend

backend slapd_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server slapd1 127.0.0.1:389 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R slapd:slapd /etc/slapd
sudo chmod 750 /etc/slapd

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=389/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status slapd

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u slapd -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep slapd)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/slapd"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/slapd-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/slapd /var/lib/slapd

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/slapd-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop slapd

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/slapd/slapd-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start slapd

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u slapd -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/slapd/slapd.log

# Check configuration
slapd -V

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/slapd

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 389

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 389

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep slapd)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep slapd)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 389

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  slapd:
    image: slapd:latest
    ports:
      - "389:389"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/slapd
      - ./data:/var/lib/slapd
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update slapd

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade slapd

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu slapd

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade slapd

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update slapd

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade slapd

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/slapd-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/slapd

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart slapd

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/slapd

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/slapd -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/slapd

Official Documentation: https://docs.slapd.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/slapd/slapd

Community Forum: https://forum.slapd.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.slapd.org/best-practices

---

Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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