Merge lp:~ahasenack/serverguide/no-etc-hosts-tricks-for-dit-suffix-1239914 into lp:serverguide/trunk

[Andreas Hasenack]

Recommend dpkg-reconfigure instead of changes to /etc/hosts to modify the DIT suffix.

Recommend dpkg-reconfigure instead of changes to /etc/hosts to modify the DIT suffix.

It shouldn't be necessary to change your system's DNS information just to get a different DIT suffix in your ldap tree. I think that's dangerous and error prone, Imagine when SSL certs come into play. I believe the slapd package should ask the user about the DIT suffix, suggesting a default based on the current DNS domain, but since it doesn't currently, let's adapt the guide and tell the use how to use dpkg-reconfigure to obtain the same result.

The bug reporter ran into this issue because the guide, as it stands, misses a call to "sudo hostname <newname>" after changing /etc/hosts.

[Doug Smythies (dsmythies)]

Looks good. Thank you.

review: Approve

=== modified file 'serverguide/C/network-auth.xml'
--- serverguide/C/network-auth.xml	2017-05-09 14:13:52 +0000
+++ serverguide/C/network-auth.xml	2017-05-09 20:38:43 +0000
@@ -148,18 +148,8 @@
 
 	<para>
         The installation of slapd will create a working configuration. In particular, it will create a database instance that you
-	can use to store your data.  However, the suffix (or base DN) of this instance will be determined from the domain name of the localhost.
-	If you want something different, edit <filename>/etc/hosts</filename> and replace the domain name with one that will give you the
-	suffix you desire.  For instance, if you want a suffix of <emphasis>dc=example,dc=com</emphasis> then your file would have a line
-	similar to this:
-	</para>
-
-<programlisting>
-127.0.1.1       hostname.example.com	hostname
-</programlisting>
-
-	<para>
-	You can revert the change after package installation.
+	can use to store your data.  However, the suffix (or base DN) of this instance will be determined from the domain name of the host.
+	If you want something different, you can change it right after the installation when you still don't have any useful data.
 	</para>
 
 	<note>
@@ -177,6 +167,18 @@
 </screen>
 
         <para>
+        If you want to change your DIT suffix, now would be a good time, because changing it discards your existing one. To change the suffix,
+        run the following command:
+        </para>
+
+<screen>
+<command>sudo dpkg-reconfigure slapd</command>
+</screen>
+        <para>
+        To switch your DIT suffix to <emphasis>dc=example,dc=com</emphasis>, for example, so you can follow this guide more closely,
+        answer <emphasis>example.com</emphasis> when asked about the DNS domain name.
+        </para>
+        <para>
         Since Ubuntu 8.10 slapd is designed to be configured within slapd itself by dedicating a separate DIT for that purpose. This allows one
 	to dynamically configure slapd without the need to restart the service. This configuration database consists of a collection of text-based
 	LDIF files located under <filename>/etc/ldap/slapd.d</filename>. This way of working is known by several names: the slapd-config method,