This topic provides an overview of the Legacy LDAP installation process. This process consists of a set of steps that will enable the administrator to use LDAP authentication.
LDAP configuration
The following steps outline the LDAP configuration process:
- Edit the /blackboard_home/config/authentication.properties file. To learn more about specific information about the properties and possible values in this file, see LDAP Authentication Provider Type.
- Configure the bbconfig.auth.type property to LDAP. This must be done for the configuration to proceed correctly. Make the following change in the bb-config.properties file:
bbconfig.auth.type=ldap
To learn more, see bb-config.properties File (in English only).
- Run PushConfigUpdates to activate the changes.
To learn more, see PushConfigUpdates (in English only).
Open LDAP - UNIX operating systems only
Blackboard has two versions of LDAP client authentication modules, the default and OpenLDAP.
Two modules exist because the default LDAP client does not release file descriptors when it is under heavy load. A file descriptor is used by UNIX Operating Systems to keep track of open files and network connections. If the system continually accumulates file descriptors, the server will reach a maximum number of allowed file descriptors, at which point no more files can be opened and no more network connections can be accepted.
Administrators of UNIX Operating Systems who experience this file descriptor issue under heavy load may deploy OpenLDAP as a workaround.
If OpenLDAP is used, the .jar files must be updated so the command line tools do not fail. A copy of the jar file should be in /systemlib.
Additionally, edit /system/build/bin/launch-tool.sh and append the .jar files to the BB_CP variable. Otherwise, command line tools that bootstrap the core services (for example, LogRotation or PurgeAccumulator) will not work. To learn more, see Command Line Tools (in English only).
