Re: [ldapext] draft-ietf-boreham-numsubordinates-01.txt

[Michael Ströder <michael@stroeder.com>]

HI!

I'd also like to add something from the client perspective. IMHO one of the 
most important use-cases for this kind of operational attributes is that it 
enables the client to detect leaf entries which is very useful for 
implementing a comfortable user interface.

> 4.  Attribute Definition
> [..]
> Every entry in the DIT MAY have a numSubordinates operational attribute 
> the contents of which indicate how  many  immediate subordinates that 
> entry has. For example, a leaf entry would have numSubordinates equal to 
> "0". Entry "ou=People, o=ace industry, c=us" in a DIT where the contents 
> of  that  container  comprises 1000 leaf entries, would have
> numSubordinates equal to "1000".

Note that a recent version of one LDAP server implementing numSubordinates 
(SunOne/iPlanet DS 5.x) unfortunately does not return numSubordinates: 0 
anymore (in opposite to Netscape DS 4.x). Instead no numSubordinates 
attribute is returned. This makes this attribute unusable to determine 
whether an entry is a leaf entry or not.

I'd like to see a note stating
'MUST return zero integer value "0" for leaf entries'.

> 6.  Relationship to hasSubordinates
>
> The  X.500  hasSubordinates  operational  attribute[ITU-X501]	can   be 
> regarded as indicating whether numSubordinates has a non-zero value for 
> the same entry. This leads to the potential for optimization in a server 
> implementation, in that it isn't necessary to store both values.

I'd like to add a note that it's RECOMMENDED to implement hasSubordinates on 
the server's side if the server already implements numSubordinates. I think 
the "potential for optimization" justifies this.

Ciao, Michael.


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