Red Hat Directory Server 8.0 Administrator's Guide

For example:
jpegPhoto::encoded_data
In addition to binary data, other values that must be base-64 encoded include the following:
• Any value that begins with a colon (:) or a space.
• Any value that contains non-ASCII data, including new lines.
Use the ldif command-line utility with the -b parameter to convert binary data to LDIF format:
ldif -b attribute_name
attribute_name is the name of the attribute to which the binary data is supplied. The binary data
is read from standard input and the results are written to standard output. Thus, use redirection
operators to select input and output files.
The ldif command-line utility will take any input and format it with the correct line continuation
and appropriate attribute information. The ldif utility also assesses whether the input requires
base-64 encoding. For example:
ldif -b jpegPhoto < mark.jpg > out.ldif
This example takes a binary file containing a JPEG-formatted image and converts it into LDIF
format for the attribute jpegPhoto. The output is saved to out.ldif.
The -b option specifies that the ldif utility should interpret the entire input as a single binary
value. If -b is not present, each line is considered to be a separate input value.
4. Specifying Directory Entries Using LDIF
Many types of entries can be stored in the directory. This section concentrates on three of the
most common types of entries used in a directory: domain, organizational unit, and
organizational person entries.
The object classes defined for an entry are what indicate whether the entry represents a domain
or domain component, an organizational unit, an organizational person, or some other type of
entry.
4.1. Specifying Domain Entries
Directories often have at least one domain entry. Typically this is the first, or topmost, entry in
the directory. The domain entry often corresponds to the DNS host and domain name for your
directory. For example, if the Directory Server host is called ldap.example.com, then the
Appendix A. LDAP Data Interchange Format
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