** start of X.500 Overview document

               Online Directory Services:  X.500 User Overview

            University of Michigan Information Technology Division
                       Reference R1124,  September 1993


Table of Contents

  What Is X.500?
     U-M Campus Online Directory

  Accessing the X.500 Online Directory
     UM-X500 Client at "Which Host?"
     Access Through Gopher
     maX.500 Client for the Macintosh
       Using maX.500 in the Campus Computing Sites
       Setting Up maX.500 in Your Workplace
       Online Help
     ud and Other Unix Clients
     Finger Interface
     Access Through E-mail

  Making Changes to Your X.500 Entry
     Obtaining a Uniqname and Password
     Changing Your Information
     Adding Your E-mail Address
       Forwarding Service for E-mail
       Forwarding E-mail From MTS
       "Business Card" E-mail Address
       UM-ADDEMAIL Server
     Adding Your Nickname
     Concealing Your Home Address and Phone Number
     Forwarding E-mail When You Leave U-M

  Creating Groups
     Features That Support Groups
     Types of Group Members

  Help
     Consulting
     Workshop
     Documentation
     X.500 Services


What Is X.500?

     X.500 is an international standard for providing online directory
     services.  The X.500 network protocol is becoming known as a
     worldwide "phone book"-an online directory for electronic mail
     (e-mail) delivery systems and other applications that need
     directory service.

     Currently, about 30 countries in the world and over 100
     organizations in the United States are part of an Internet-wide
     X.500 Online Directory.  People at the University of Michigan and
     many other organizations are beginning to use X.500 to look up
     e-mail addresses, postal addresses, and phone numbers.  U-M
     students, staff, and faculty can use X.500 to retrieve information
     about friends and colleagues locally and around the world.

 U-M Campus Online Directory

     Here at the University of Michigan, the Information Technology
     Division (ITD) has deployed an X.500 Online Directory, the U-M
     portion of which already contains an entry for most students,
     faculty, and staff members.

     The basic information listed for all faculty and regular staff is
     the same "white pages" information as that published once a year
     in the printed campus telephone book, The University of Michigan
     Directory.  It includes name, business address and phone number,
     home address and phone number, and job title.  Faculty and staff
     entries in the X.500 Online Directory are updated monthly from the
     Personnel Office's Staff Database.

     Student entries also contain name, campus address and phone
     number, home address and phone number, and title.  Student
     information is updated several times a term from the Office of the
     Registrar's Student Characteristics Database.


Accessing the X.500 Online Directory

     U-M students, staff, and faculty can read and update their X.500
     entries in several ways.  These range from UM-X500, a simple
     command-line interface modelled after the MTS User Directory, to
     maX.500, an easy-to-use application for the Apple Macintosh.

 UM-X500 Client at "Which Host?"

     UM-X500 is a text-only, command-line interface to the worldwide
     X.500 Online Directory.  You can search the whole directory as
     well as make changes to your own entry using the UM-X500 client.

     The UM-X500 client is available by entering

          um-x500

     at the "Which Host?" prompt.

     The basic command to look up your X.500 entry or someone else's at
     U-M is find.  Using find you can search for X.500 entries by last
     name, firstname.lastname, or uniqname.  Your searches can be exact
     or approximate.  If only one entry matches your request, the
     system displays information for that entry.  If more than one
     entry matches your query, the system presents a list from which
     you can select a specific entry.

     Here is a sample session where you're looking for someone named
     Barbara Jensen (your responses are in marked like this: response ):
                                                             ^^^^^^^^

          Which Host? um-x500
                      ^^^^^^^
          <...header information...>
          X.500 UserDirectory vV30b1 (Tue Jul 27 10:50:16 EDT 1993)

          Enter a command.  If you need help, type 'h' or '?' and hit RETURN.

          * find barbara.jensen
            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
               "Barbara J Jensen"
               Aliases:          Barbara Jensen
                                 Barbara J Jensen 1
                                 Babs Jensen
               E-mail address:   bjensen@terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu
               Fax number:       +1 313 764 5140
               Business phone:   +1 313 747-4454
               Business address: 535 W. William
                                 Ann Arbor, MI 48103
               Home phone:       +1 313 930-2936
               Home address:     494 Waymarket Dr.
                                 Ann Arbor MI 48103
               Title:            Mythical Manager, Research Systems
               Unique name:      bjensen
               Description:      Mythical manager of the rsdd unix project
                                 I enjoy sailing in my spare time...

     By default, UM-X500 searches the U-M portion of the directory.  To
     search organizations in the worldwide X.500 Online Directory,
     enter the cb (change search base) command.

     For a complete list of basic commands, enter help.

 Access Through Gopher

     X.500 is also available through UM-GOpherBLUE, ITD's popular
     Gopher server.  You can access not only U-M's local portion of the
     X.500 Online Directory but also remote portions through a more
     general gateway that allows Gopher users to browse the worldwide
     X.500 directory.  You can make changes to your own entry using
     Gopher.  To access the service at the "Which Host?" prompt, enter

          um-gopherblue

     Then select "Phone Book (X.500)" from the UM-GOpherBLUE main
     menu.  Or, look for this menu entry using any Gopher client
     software (for example, TurboGopher for the Macintosh).

 maX.500 Client for the Macintosh

     maX.500 is an X.500 Online Directory client program for the
     Macintosh that provides a Mac-like interface.  maX.500 provides
     both read and write access to the campus portion of the directory,
     as well as read access to the worldwide X.500 Online Directory.

     Using maX.500, you can easily search an organization's online
     directory.  You can quickly locate a colleague and find
     information such as an e-mail address, campus address, or
     telephone number.

  Using maX.500 in the Campus Computing Sites

     maX.500 version 2.0 is available for use on Macintosh computers in
     all of the Campus Computing Sites.  To use maX.500 at the
     computing sites, double-click a series of folders in this order:
     Applications, Communication, maX.500.  Finally, double-click the
     maX.500 icon to launch the program.

  Setting Up maX.500 in Your Workplace

     maX.500 is available for free from the U-M/Merit Macintosh
     software archives and through anonymous FTP in the file
     /x500/max500-2.0-umich.sea.hqx on the terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu
     host.  (To find out how to transfer files using anonymous FTP on
     MTS, see Using FTP on MTS, Tutorial T7007.)  To get started using
     maX.500 in your workplace, you will also need:

    * Apple Macintosh Plus or newer Macintosh running Apple
       System Software version 6.0.5 or later (including System 7).

    * Apple's MacTCP, a control panel for managing Internet
      protocol communications.  MacTCP is available free of charge from
      the NUBS Computing Resource Site to all University-affiliated
      individuals.  If you already use ITD-supported applications such
      as NCSA Telnet or Fetch, MacTCP is probably already installed on
      your machine and properly configured.  If not, ask your system
      administrator for assistance or call an ITD consultant at
      764-HELP.

    * TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) network
      connection.  (For more information about TCP/IP connectivity at
      U-M, refer to U-M Campus Data Networking Guide:  Internet Access
      From the University of Michigan, Reference R1090.)

     NOTE: To use maX.500 with a modem from your home, you need
           MacPPP to establish your TCP/IP network connection.  MacPPP
           is available through anonymous FTP in the file
           /pub/ppp/macppp2.0.1.hqx from the merit.edu host.
           Installation instructions are in the file /pub/ppp/macppp.txt.

     If you want to make changes to your X.500 entry using maX.500, you
     will also need the Authentication Manager control panel.
     Authentication Manager is available through anonymous FTP in the
     file /x500/max500/authman-for-max500.sea.hqx on the
     terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu host.

  maX.500 Online Help

     Once maX.500 has launched, you can open online help in one of two
     ways, depending on whether your Macintosh is running System 6 or
     7:

     * System 6- Choose maX.500 Help... from the the Apple menu.
     * System 7- Choose maX.500 Help... from the Help [?] menu.

     Click specific topics in the index on the left of your screen, and
     the corresponding help text will appear on the right.  Or, if you
     prefer a paper copy to refer to, choose Print from the File menu.

 ud and Other Unix Clients

     Unix users have a variety of interface choices; there is a
     command-line client called ud, which runs under SunOS, Ultrix,
     AIX, and A/UX.  ud is identical to the UM-X500 client.  The ud
     client is available through anonymous FTP in the file
     /x500/ldap/ldap-3.0.tar.Z on the terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu
     host.  A variety of clients for X Windows are also available as
     part of the publicly available ISODE release.

 Finger Interface

     The Internet finger protocol has long been used to obtain
     directory information from an individual host computer about users
     with accounts on that host.  ITD has written a server that allows
     you to have read-only access to the U-M campus portion of the
     X.500 Online Directory by fingering the Internet host umich.edu.
     Finger clients are available for most platforms, including
     Macintosh, PC, Unix, and MTS.

     To access the U-M X.500 database from UM-MTS and search for a name
     (for example, Barbara Jensen), enter a command such as the
     following

          $finger barbara.jensen@umich.edu

     To finger someone from a Unix machine, enter

          finger barbara.jensen@umich.edu

 Access Through E-mail

     If you don't have access to X.500 through any of the methods just
     listed, you can send an e-mail message to namelookup@umich.edu.
     For example, a message with "find Barbara.Jensen" in the subject
     or text will cause the system to search the X.500 Online Directory
     and return information on all entries that match Barbara Jensen.
     This access is similar to the finger interface in that it is
     read-only and displays just campus addresses.

     Or, if you send a message with the word "help" somewhere in the
     subject or text of the message, you will automatically receive a
     reply that explains how to use this e-mail query service.


Making Changes to Your X.500 Entry

     Looking yourself up in the X.500 Online Directory is a useful
     exercise to ensure that all information about you is accurate and
     as complete as you want it to be.  You may want to change, add, or
     even delete information listed in the directory.  You will need a
     uniqname and Kerberos password to make changes to your X.500 entry
     such as adding an e-mail address or a FAX number.

 Obtaining a Uniqname and Password

     A uniqname is a personal identifier that is required for many
     computing services on campus, such as using the Campus Computing
     Sites, accessing the Institutional File System (IFS), and changing
     your X.500 entry.

     To obtain a uniqname and password, students need to show their
     student ID cards.  Faculty and staff need to show a picture ID
     (such as a driver's license) and a document indicating current
     affiliation with the University (such as an appointment letter or
     a staff ID card).  You can go to any of these locations to get a
     uniqname:

    * ITD Accounts Office, Michigan Union Computing Site
      (faculty and staff can call the office at 764-8000)

    * NUBS Computing Resource Site

    * Angell Hall Courtyard Computing Site

    * Art & Architecture Computing Site

    * Learning Resource Center (LRC), 3950 Taubman Library

    * ITD Workshop Registration, 3001 School of Education Building

     (Engineering students should go to the CAEN Office, 229 Chrysler
     Center.)

     When you obtain a uniqname, it is automatically added to your
     entry in the X.500 Online Directory.

 Changing Your Information

     You may change most information in your entry except that in the
     common name and uniqname fields.  However, changes made to any
     address, phone number, or title field will be overwritten by
     automatic updates from the Personnel and Registrar databases
     unless you disable this update feature; see "Concealing Your Home
     Address and Phone Number" below to find out how.

     You can make changes to your X.500 entry using any of these
     interfaces to the X.500 Online Directory:  UM- X500, UM-GOpherBLUE
     (and other Gopher clients), maX.500, and ud.

 Adding Your E-mail Address

     ITD encourages everyone at U-M who uses electronic mail to
     register a current, local e-mail address in the X.500 Online
     Directory.  Adding your e-mail address to this directory can make
     it easier for people on or off campus to contact you.  (System
     administrators can arrange to have the addresses for e-mail users
     on their system entered into X.500 by sending e-mail to
     x500@umich.edu.)

     Even if you get your mail on UM-MTS and exchange mail almost
     exclusively with other UM-MTS users, consider adding your current
     e-mail address to your X.500 entry for the benefit of any future
     correspondents who may try to reach you from off campus but may
     not know which machine you're using.

     In your X.500 entry, register the one local e-mail address where
     you actually read your mail.  For example, if you read mail on
     UM-MTS, enter your um.cc.umich.edu address; if you read mail on a
     CAEN machine, enter your address at engin.umich.edu.

 Forwarding Service for E-mail

     If you register your current e-mail address in the X.500 Online
     Directory, you can give correspondents an Internet address in
     either of two forms:  firstname.lastname@umich.edu, which is easy
     for your correspondents to remember, or uniqname@umich.edu, which
     is the shorter form using your uniqname.  If you change the
     machine on which you read your mail in the future, you need only
     update your e-mail address in your X.500 entry to have your mail
     forwarded to the mailbox on the actual computer from which you
     read your mail.

    WARNING: Do not enter your umich.edu address in the e- mail address
             field of your X.500 entry, or your mail will enter a loop
             until it is sent to the Postmaster as undeliverable.  Be
             sure to enter your local e-mail address instead.

     For example, Barbara Jensen recently moved her mail from the
     UM-MTS host to a Unix system.  As one step in doing this, Barbara
     entered her new local e-mail address
     (bjensen@terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu) in her X.500 entry.  Barbara
     can now give correspondents her uniqname mail address:
     bjensen@umich.edu, which is easier to remember than her old MTS
     address:  barbara.jensen@um.cc.umich.edu or the address on her
     current Unix mail machine:  bjensen@terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu.
     The next time Barbara changes the machine on which she reads her
     mail, she only needs to update the e-mail address field of her
     X.500 entry to have her mail forwarded correctly.

 Forwarding E-mail From MTS

     Because Barbara formerly read mail on the UM-MTS host, she used
     the MTS User Directory MODIFY command to forward all mail sent to
     her on UM-MTS to her new X.500 address (bjensen@umich.edu).  At
     the MTS User Directory asterisk (*) prompt, she entered

          *modify barbara.jensen mailname=bjensen@umich.edu

     By doing this, her current correspondents on the UM-MTS system
     don't have to change the way they address e-mail to her.  (For
     more information about using the User Directory, refer to The MTS
     User Directory, Tutorial T7014.)

 "Business Card" E-mail Address

     Once you have entered your local e-mail address, you will be able
     to use a single, permanent e-mail address (in the form
     name@umich.edu), no matter where you move within the University.
     This standardized e-mail address reduces the need to reprint
     business cards, stationery, and other supplies should your current
     e- mail address change.  Before printing your business cards, be
     sure to send yourself a test e-mail message to make certain you
     have the correct address.

 UM-ADDEMAIL Server

     ITD provides an easy-to-use server at the  "Which Host?" prompt to
     help you add your e-mail address to the X.500 Online Directory.
     The UM-ADDEMAIL server can be used by anyone who has a uniqname
     and Kerberos password.  (The server explains how to get a uniqname
     and password if you don't have them, or see "Obtaining a Uniqname
     and Password" above.)

     MTS users should find the server especially helpful.  Once you
     have provided your MTS userID, the server will look up your e-mail
     address for you so you'll know what to put into the X.500 Online
     Directory.

     To use the UM-ADDEMAIL server at the "Which Host?" prompt, enter

          um-addemail

     and follow the directions displayed on your screen.

     You can also access this server through UM-GOpherBLUE.  At the
     "Which Host?" prompt, enter

          um-gopherblue

     and then select "Phone Book (X.500)" from the main menu.  Next,
     select "Add Your Electronic Mail Address."

 Adding Your Nickname

     The common name or "Also Known As" field of your X.500 entry
     contains your formal names as you are known by Personnel or the
     Office of the Registrar.  For e-mail security reasons, you cannot
     edit the common name field, even with a Kerberos password; only
     the staff who maintain the directory can edit this field.

     You may want to add your nickname to the common name field so your
     friends can find you more easily in the X.500 Online Directory.
     For example, if you are known officially as Barbara Jensen, but
     your friends all know you as Babs Jensen, you may want to have
     this nickname added to the directory.  Then your friends could
     send you mail at the babs.jensen@umich.edu address.

     If you want to have your nickname(s) added to this field, you must
     send a message to nicknames@umich.edu.  Be sure to include your
     uniqname or University ID number with your request to ensure
     proper identification of your entry.

 Concealing Your Home Address and Phone Number

     Your home phone number and address are available in the X.500
     Online Directory unless you have told the University that you
     don't want this information published.  To conceal this
     information, you can do one of two things:

    * If you don't want your home address and phone number to appear
      in the printed directory or in X.500, fill out a new Form 30005
      (faculty or staff) or Change of Address card (students), and
      check the box that keeps your home phone and address from being
      published in the next issue of the printed directory.
      Additionally, this information will be excluded from the X.500
      Online Directory the next time the database undergoes its regular
      update from records provided by Personnel or the Registrar.
      Faculty and staff can obtain a copy of Form 30005 from their
      departmental secretary.  Students can pick up a Change of Address
      card in the lobby of the LS&A Building and drop it off at the
      General Information Window in the lobby or in the Registrar's
      drop box there.

    * If you want your home address and phone number to appear in the
      printed directory but not in X.500, you can delete them from your
      X.500 entry and disable the system's "automatic update" feature.
      When the update feature is disabled, information from Personnel
      and the Registrar will no longer be automatically entered into
      the X.500 Online Directory.  If you don't disable the update
      feature, the changes you make to your entry will be overwritten
      the next time X.500 is updated.

      Use one of these two methods to disable the automatic update
      feature:

    - In UM-X500, when you use the change command to make changes to
      your entry, choose "Automatic updates" and select "no".

    - In maX.500, click the Updates... button and then check the
      "Do Not Update My Entry From Personnel or The Registrar" box.

     Note that changes you make to your X.500 entry are not
     automatically sent back to Personnel or the Registrar, so you will
     have to notify them directly.  When you edit your address(es) or
     phone number(s) in your X.500 entry, either disable the update
     feature or submit a new Form 30005 or Change of Address card.

 Forwarding E-mail When You Leave U-M

     When you leave the University, you may make a special request to
     have your X.500 entry remain in the database for up to a year.
     This service provides you the opportunity to have your e-mail
     forwarded to your new location until you can notify all your
     correspondents.

     Student entries remain in the X.500 Online Directory for a year
     after the last term in which the students are registered, thus
     accommodating those who go home for the summer, take a term or two
     off for an internship, and so on.  Faculty and staff entries, on
     the other hand, are normally deleted as soon as Personnel receives
     notice of termination.  However, faculty and staff can request the
     same year-long forwarding service as students.

     If you are interested in this e-mail forwarding service, send a
     message to x500@umich.edu.


Creating Groups

     An important feature of the X.500 Online Directory at the
     University of Michigan is support for creating and maintaining
     groups of people.  The most common use of a group is for
     electronic mail purposes.

     For many years, MTS users have been able to create and maintain
     message groups (electronic mailing lists) with the MTS User
     Directory.  These message groups have provided a quick, easy way
     to send the same message to several people at once.  Now you can
     use X.500 to manage groups that others can use, even if they do
     not use the MTS Message System and User Directory.

     You can create and maintain groups using any of these interfaces
     to the X.500 Online Directory:  UM-X500, UM- GOpherBLUE (and other
     Gopher client software), maX.500, and ud.

 Features That Support Groups
     Support for electronic mail groups in the campus portion of the
     X.500 Online Directory includes these features:

    * You can create e-mail groups yourself and delete groups you
      have created.

    * When you create a message group, you cannot interfere with
      another user's personal mail, because the X.500 mail-handling
      software always gives preference to an individual's entry over a
      group entry with the same address.

    * Not only can the group's creator add you to a group, but you can
      join and resign from a group yourself, if the group's creator
      allows.

    * By default, groups have a list maintainer who receives
      mail-delivery error messages, as well as mail addressed to
      group-request@umich.edu (where "group" is the group name).

    * Groups can be members of other groups.

    * Group members can (but don't have to) be listed in the
      University's X.500 Online Directory; the only requirement to add
      someone to a group is an Internet address.  However, to join a
      group yourself, you must have an X.500 entry.

 Types of Group Members

     Three kinds of entries may appear in the member list of an X.500
     group:

    * "Subscribers" are individuals or groups listed in the X.500
      Online Directory who have added their names to a group that the
      group's owner has opened to general membership.  (These groups
      are marked as "joinable.")

    * "X.500 members" are individuals or groups listed in the
      directory who are added to a group by its creator.

    * "E-mail members" are individuals or groups who need not appear
      in the X.500 Online Directory.  A group owner can add them to the
      group with their Internet e- mail addresses.


Help

 Consulting
     If you have problems using X.500, send e-mail to
     online.consulting@umich.edu or call the ITD consultants at
     764-HELP.  Send general comments and questions about X.500 to
     x500@umich.edu.

 Workshop
     ITD offers a workshop called U-M Campus Information Environment
     that discusses the X.500 Online Directory.  It presents an
     overview of the many ways to locate, access, retrieve, and store
     information of all kinds within the U-M campus networking
     environment.  See the course guide, ITD Non-Credit Computing
     Courses on Campus, Reference R1046, for more information about
     this and other workshops.

 Documentation
     You can get copies of this document (Online Directory Services:
     X.500 User Overview, Reference R1124) at the Campus Computing
     Sites, or contact the ITD Documentation Support Staff
     (itd.doc@umich.edu or 763- 8961) to have a copy sent to you in
     campus mail.  This document is also available through anonymous
     FTP in the file /x500/overview.txt on the
     terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu host.


X.500 Services

     Here is a summary of e-mail addresses for particular X.500
     services, along with the page number in this document where you
     can find more information about the service.

 * X.500 Service                                    * E-mail Address

 Help with using X.500                              online.consulting@umich.edu

 E-mail query service                               namelookup@umich.edu

 For system administrators to add e-mail addresses  x500@umich.edu

 Adding your nickname                               nicknames@umich.edu

 Forwarding your e-mail when you leave U-M          x500@umich.edu


** end of X.500 Overview document