Exam 301: Detailed Objectives

Capacity planning is the art and science of not running out of resources in the foreseeable future. It's often done informally, by measuring the resources that a program needs, commonly after having just run out of something.

If you make a table of how much CPU, memory and I/O bandwidth a program needs to do some unit of work, you can estimate how much it will need at some higher load in the future. Alternatively, you can use the measurements for sizing a new machine for the program, or for estimating how big a machine will be needed to consolidate your and other programs.

Informal spreadsheet estimates are often sufficient for simple sizing and future planning, but they do not have any correctness guarantees and they don't tell you:

• at what load the program will be overloaded, nor

• how much the response time of the program will balloon under load.

For that, you use one of the programs which solve the problem using queuing theory. There are commercial products which will do so on Linux, but at least one free queuing network solver exists, Perl::PDQ by Neil Gunther. These generate proper mathematical models, so you can predict the performance of the program under load, and calculate the drop-off in performance as the program becomes overloaded.

Objectives

Topic 301: Concepts, Architecture and Design

301.1 LDAP Concepts and Architecture (weight: 3)

Description: Candidates should be familiar with LDAP and X.500 concepts

Key Knowledge Areas

• LDAP and X.500 technical specification

• Attribute definitions

• Directory namespaces

• Distinguished names

• LDAP Data Interchange Format

• Meta-directories

• Changetype operations

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• LDIF

• Meta-directory

• changetype

• X.500

• /var/lib/ldap/*
  

301.2 Directory Design (weight: 2)

Description: Candidates should be able to design an implement an LDAP directory, while planning an appropriate Directory Information Tree to avoid redundancy. Candidates should have an understanding of the types of data which are appropriate for storage in an LDAP directory

Key Knowledge Areas

• Define LDAP directory content

• Organize directory

• Planning appropriate Directory Information Trees

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• Class of Service

• Directory Information Tree

• Distinguished name

• Container

301.3 Schemas (weight: 3)

Description: Candidates should be familiar with schema concepts, and the base schema files included with an OpenLDAP installation

Key Knowledge Areas

• LDAP schema concepts

• Create and modify schemas

• Attribute and object class syntax

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• Distributes schema

• Extended schema

• Object Identifiers

• /etc/ldap/schema/*

• Object class

• Attribute

• include directive

Topic 302: Installation and Development

302.1 Compiling and Installing OpenLDAP (weight: 3)

Description: Candidates should be able to compile and install OpenLDAP from source and from packages

Key Knowledge Areas

• Compile and configure OpenLDAP from source

• Knowledge of OpenLDAP backend databases

• Manage OpenLDAP daemons

• Troubleshoot errors during installation

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• make

• gpg

• rpm

• dpkg

• bdb

• slapd

• slurpd

302.2 Developing for LDAP with Perl/C++ (weight: 1)

Description: Candidates should be able to write basic Perl scripts to interact with an LDAP directory

Key Knowledge Areas

• Syntax of Perl's Net::LDAP module

• Write Perl scripts to bind, search, and modify directories

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• Net::LDAP

• Perl

• C++

Topic 303: Configuration

303.2 Access Control Lists in LDAP (weight: 2)

Description: Candidates should be able to plan and implement access control lists

Key Knowledge Areas

• Plan LDAP access control lists

• Grant and revoke LDAP access permissions

• Access control syntax

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• ACL

• slapd.conf

• anonymous

• users

• self

• none

• auth

• compare

• search

• read

• write

303.3 LDAP Replication (weight: 5)

Description: Candidates should be familiar with the various replication strategies available with OpenLDAP

Key Knowledge Areas

• Replication concepts

• Configure OpenLDAP ? replication

• Execute and manage slurpd

• Analyze replication log files

• Understand replica hubs

• LDAP referrals

• LDAP sync replication

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• slurpd

• slapd.conf

• master / slave server

• consumer

• replica hub

• one-shot mode

• referral

• syncrepl

• pull-based / push-based synchronization

• refreshOnly and refreshAndPersist

• replog

303.4 Securing the Directory (weight: 4)

Description: Candidates should be able to configure encrypted access to the LDAP directory, and restrict access at the firewall level

Key Knowledge Areas

• Securing the directory with SSL and TLS

• Firewall considerations

• Unauthenticated access methods

• User / password authentication methods

• Maintanence of SASL user DB

• Client / server certificates

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• SSL / TLS

• Security Strength Factors (SSF)

• SASL

• proxy authorization

• StartTLS

• slapd.conf

• iptables

303.5 LDAP Server Performance Tuning (weight: 2)

Description: Candidates should be capable of measuring the performance of an LDAP server, and tuning configuration directives

Key Knowledge Areas

• Measure LDAP performance

• Tune software configuration to increase performance

• Understand indexes

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• index

• slapd.conf

• DB_CONFIG

303.6 OpenLDAP Daemon Configuration (weight: 2)

Description: Candidates should have knowledge of the common slapd.conf configuration directives, and be familiar with the basic slapd command line options

Key Knowledge Areas

• slapd.conf configuration directives

• slapd.conf database definitions

• slapd and its command line options

• Analyze slapd log files

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• slapd.conf

• slapd

• /var/lib/ldap/*

• loglevel

Topic 304: Usage

304.1 Searching the Directory (weight: 2)

Description: Candidates should be able to use advanced options for searching the LDAP directory

Key Knowledge Areas

• Use OpenLDAP search tools with basic options

• Use OpenLDAP search tools with advanced options

• Optimize LDAP search queries

• Knowledge of search filters and their syntax

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• ldapsearch

• index

• search filter syntax

• slapd.conf

304.2 LDAP Command Line Tools (weight: 4)

Description: Candidates should be familiar with the OpenLDAP command line tools

Key Knowledge Areas

• Use the ldap* tools to access and modify the directory

• Use the slap* tools to access and modify the directory

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• ldap.conf

• ldapsearch

• ldapadd

• ldapmodify

• ldapdelete

• ldapmodrdn

• slapindex

• slapadd

• slapcat

304.3 Whitepages (weight: 1)

Description: Candidates should be able to build and maintain a whitepages service

Key Knowledge Areas

• Plan whitepages services

• Configure whitepages services

• Configure clients to retrieve data from whitepages services

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• whitepages

• Outlook

Topic 305: Integration and Migration

305.1 LDAP Integration with PAM and NSS (weight: 2)

Description: Candidates should be able to confiure PAM and NSS to retrieve information from an LDAP directory

Key Knowledge Areas

• Configure PAM to use LDAP for authentication

• Configure NSS to retrieve information from LDAP

• Configure PAM modules in various Unix environments

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• PAM

• NSS

• /etc/pam.d/*

• /etc/nsswitch.conf

305.2 NIS to LDAP Migration (weight: 1)

Description: Candidates should be able to plan and implement a NIS migration strategy, including a NIS to LDAP gateway

Key Knowledge Areas

• Analyze NIS structure prior to migration to LDAP

• Analyze NIS structure prior to integration with LDAP

• Automate NIS to LDAP migration

• Create a NIS to LDAP gateway

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• NIS

• NIS to LDAP gateway

• slapd.conf

• /etc/yp/*

305.3 Integrating LDAP with Unix Services (weight: 1)

Description: Candidates should be able to integrate LDAP authentication with a number of common Unix services

Key Knowledge Areas

• Integrate SSH with LDAP

• Integrate FTP with LDAP

• Integrate HTTP with LDAP

• Inegrate FreeRADIUS ? with LDAP

• Integrate print services with LDAP

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• sshd.conf

• ftp

• httpd.conf

• radiusd.conf

• cupsd.conf

• ldap.conf

305.4 Integrating LDAP with Samba (weight: 1)

Description: Candidates should be able to integrate LDAP with Samba services

Key Knowledge Areas

• Migrate from smbpasswd to LDAP

• Understand OpenLDAP Samba schema

• Understand LDAP as a Samba password backend

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• smb.conf

• smbpasswd

• samba3.schema

• slapd.conf

305.5 Integrating LDAP with Active Directory (weight: 2)

Description: Candidates should be able to integrate LDAP with Active Directory Services

Key Knowledge Areas

• Kerberos integration with LDAP

• Cross platform authentication

• Single sign-on concepts

• Integration and compatibility limitations between OpenLDAP and Active Directory

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• Kerberos

• Active Directory

• single sign-on

• DNS

305.6 Integrating LDAP with Email Services (weight: 1)

Description: Candidates should be able to integrate LDAP with email services

Key Knowledge Areas

• Plan LDAP schema structure for email services

• Create email attributes in LDAP

• Integrate Postfix with LDAP

• Integrate Sendmail with LDAP

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• Postfix

• Sendmail

• schema

• SASL

• POP

• IMAP

Topic 306: Capacity Planning

306.1 Measure Resource Usage (weight: 4)

Description: Candidates should be able to measure hardware resources and network bandwidth usage

Key Knowledge Areas

• Measure CPU usage

• Measure memory usage

• Measure disk I/O

• Measure network I/O

• Measure firewalling and routing throughput

• Map client bandwidth usage

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• iostat

• vmstat

• pstree

• w

• lsof

• top

• uptime

• sar

306.2 Troubleshoot Resource Problems (weight: 4)

Description: Candidates should be able to identify and troubleshoot resource problems

Key Knowledge Areas

• Match / correlate system symptoms with likely problems

• Identify bottlenecks in a system

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• swap

• processes blocked on I/O

• blocks in

• blocks out

306.3 Analyze Demand (weight: 2)

Description: Candidates should be able to analyze capacity demands

Key Knowledge Areas

• Identify capacity demands

• Detail capacity needs of programs

• Determine CPU / memory needs of programs

• Assemble program needs into a complete analysis

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• PDQ

• CPU usage

• memory usage

• appropriate measurement time

• trend

• model

• what-if

• validate

• performance equation

306.4 Predict Future Resource Needs (weight: 1)

Description: Candidates should be able to monitor resource usage to predict future resource needs

Key Knowledge Areas

• Predict capacity break point of a configuration

• Observe growth rate of capacity usage

• Graph the trend of capacity usage

The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:

• diagnose

• predict growth

• average

• resource exhaustion