XMLDirectoryService

This directory service is configurable via an XML file that contains principal information.

Configuring the Calendar Server

The full name of the implementation class is twistedcaldav.directory.xmlfile.XMLDirectoryService and the service takes an xmlFile parameter which contains the name of the XML file to read principal information from.

For example:

<!--  XML File Directory Service -->
<key>DirectoryService</key>
<dict>
  <key>type</key>
  <string>twistedcaldav.directory.xmlfile.XMLDirectoryService</string>

  <key>params</key>
  <dict>
    <key>xmlFile</key>
    <string>/etc/caldavd/accounts.xml</string>
  </dict>
</dict>

The service re-reads the XML file if it's timestamp changes, so edits to the XML file should not require a server restart.

Configuring principals

A "principal" is WebDAV terminology for an "identifier" that can be used for authentication and access control purposes. Typically it is used to represent the users of the system, as well as other types of items needing some "presence" on the system.

The principals supported by the XMLDirectoryService are:

• users: individual (typically human) users of the system
• groups: a group of other principals (can be a mixture of any of the principal types)
• locations: rooms or locations where meetings can be held
• resources: inanimate objects that also need to be part of a meeting (e.g., a projector)

Principals are expressed in an XML document. The root element accounts has an attribute realm which describes the authentication realm. It contains principal elements which, in turn contain elements describing the principal. The element itself (user, group, location, resource) denotes the "type" of the principal.

• uid: the login identifier for the principal.
• guid: the unique identifier for the principal - must be unique on this server at least.
• password: the principal's password in plain text.
• name: the principal's full name (or description).
• members: contains a list of uids for the principals which are members of the principal being defined. A principal that has members is termed a "group principal". Only principals of type "group" should be configured to have members. The members element has member sub-elements used to specify each member. The member element has a type attribute that defines the principal type of the member (one of users, groups, locations and resources), and the text value inside the member element is the corresponding uid of the principal being referenced. Any type of principal may be a member of a group, including other groups. You should avoid creating "loops" by having two groups reference each other.
• cuaddr: a calendar user address for the principal. Calendar user addresses must be URIs and must be unique to the principal (ie. the same calendar user address may not be used to identify multiple principals). Note that the server will add it's own calendar user address to principals (eg. the principal's URI on the server is always a valid calendar user address). Multiple cuaddr elements may be provided for a principal. The calendar user address is the identifier used for sending inviting principals to meetings.
• disable-calendar: when present, this element indicates that the specified principal is able to login to the calendar server, but is not setup with a calendar and cannot do scheduling. This type of principal is typically used to allow access to a shared group calendar without having to setup a "personal" calendar account for the user. This element can only be specified on user and group principal types.
• auto-schedule: when present, this element indicates that the server will automatically process scheduling messages for the corresponding principal. i.e. when a scheduling message arrives, if it does not conflict with an existing meeting it will be automatically accepted and "booked" into the principal's main calendar, or if it does conflict it will be automatically declined. This element can only be defined on location and resource principal types.
• proxies: this element contains a list of member elements that define which other principals have read-write proxy/delegate access to the corresponding principal's calendar data.

For example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<accounts realm="Test Realm">
  <user>
    <uid>admin</uid>
    <password>admin</password>
    <name>Super User</name>
  </user>
  <user>
    <uid>test</uid>
    <password>test</password>
    <name>Test User</name>
    <cuaddr>mailto:testuser@example.com</cuaddr>
  </user>
  <group>
    <uid>users</uid>
    <password>users</password>
    <name>Users Group</name>
    <members>
      <member type="users">test</member>
    </members>
  </group>
  <location>
    <uid>mercury</uid>
    <password>mercury</password>
    <name>Mecury Conference Room, Building 1, 2nd Floor</name>
    <auto-schedule/>
    <proxies>
      <member type="users">test</member>
    </proxies>
  </location>
</accounts>