HP-UX Directory Server 8.1 deployment guide

Configure the default referral to point to a Directory Server that has more information about the
distribution of the directory service. Default referrals for the server are set by the
nsslapd-referral attribute. Default referrals for each database in the directory installation
are set by the nsslapd-referral attribute in the database entry in the configuration. These
attribute values are stored in the dse.ldif file.
For information on configuring default referrals, refer to the HP-UX Directory Server administrator
guide.
5.3.1.3 Smart referrals
The Directory Server can also use smart referrals. Smart referrals associate a directory entry or
directory tree to a specific LDAP URL. This means that requests can be forwarded to any of the
following:
• The same namespace contained on a different server.
• Different namespaces on a local server.
• Different namespaces on the same server.
Unlike default referrals, smart referrals are stored within the directory service itself. For
information on configuring and managing smart referrals, see the HP-UX Directory Server
administrator guide.
For example, the directory service for the American office of the Example Corp. contains the
ou=people,dc=example,dc=com directory branch point.
Redirect all requests on this branch to the ou=people branch of the European office of Example
Corp. by specifying a smart referral on the ou=people entry itself. The smart referral is
ldap://europe.example.com:389/ou=people,dc=example,dc=com.
Any requests made to the people branch of the American directory service are redirected to the
European directory. This is illustrated below:
Figure 5-7 Using smart referrals to redirect requests
64 Designing the directory topology