Re: LDAP service lookup

On 8/27/07, Albe Laurenz <all(at)adv(dot)magwien(dot)gv(dot)at> wrote:
> > it could be used as an advocacy lever ("you think LDAP directory with
> > DB-services
> > is neat? PostgreSQL already has it").
> I'm glad that *somebody* else appreciates it :^)

Oh, I do, I do. :)

> > Then again, apart from libpq I don't see it mentioned
> > anywhere. I would like
> > to have [1] a Setting-up-LDAP-for-PgSQL-HOWTO.
> Being the author of the code, I'd be willing to compose one if
> there is a demand.
> I thought that the documentation you quoted above would be enough -
> it has samples and everything.
> What information is missing in your opinion?

Looking at the 8.3devel documentation...

I think it should be mentioned in 18. Server Configuration. probably
somewhere in 18.3 Connections and Authentication, that there is
a possibility of using Service names instead of traditional connect
strings -- and a link pointing to libpq-ldap documentation.
This would make people much less likely to miss this point, especially
if they don't plan to code in libpq C library. :-)
(personally I think it would fit in more places, like Managing Databases
(though LSAP is more generic in scope) or even HA (makes it much
easier to promote slave to master, just one update in one place), though
I wouldn't want to overpromote it ;)).

[...]
> In 8.3 you will be able to say "psql service=myname", in 8.2 you
> have to resort to "PGSERVICE=myname psql" because there is no
> support for the service parameter.

Somehow I've missed it while skimming through 8.2 docs. I think
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.2/static/libpq-pgservice.html
could use this specific example to send a subliminal message:
PGSERVICE=myname psql

> > Could anyone of you tell me about your setups if you use LDAP for
> > this? How do you feel about it? Which LDAP server do you use?
> We use Oracle's Internet Directory, but any LDAP server should do.
> It's just a matter of organizing your databases in LDAP entries and
> writing the corresponding LDAP searches into pg_service.conf.

And, while not belonging to PostgreSQL documentation, but defenately
belonging iin techdocs, whould be a step-by-step guide of setting up
pg_services in OID and other LDAP servers. Funny thing, I think I'll
be looking at putting pg_services in OID as well.

Regards,
Dawid