LDAP authentication requires 2 attempts

Question

I am running Weblogic 6.1 using an LDAP v2 Security Realm (iPlanet). When I first
startup Weblogic and authenticate a user (created directly within iPlanet) via
a FORM based authenticated web application, everything works great. Weblogic
queries iPlanet and works on the first attempt.
Then within my java application, I have code that creates new users and modifies
users in the LDAP server. Without restarting the server, user's who change their
password will only be authenticated every second attempt. i.e., first it will
fail, then it will succeed, then it will fail, etc... If I restart the server,
then authentication works perfectly for these users.
For new users that I create in the LDAP server, it's a little worse. These users
never get authenticated even after the server is restarted.
Here is the code used to create and modify LDAP entries:
LDAPAttributeSet attrs=new LDAPAttributeSet();
attrs.add(new LDAPAttribute("objectclass",FULL_USER_CLASS));
attrs.add(new LDAPAttribute("uid",user.getUsername()));
attrs.add(new LDAPAttribute("userpassword",user.getPassword()));
attrs.add(new LDAPAttribute("sn", user.getLastName()));
attrs.add(new LDAPAttribute("cn", user.getFirstName() + " " + user.getLastName()));
attrs.add(new LDAPAttribute("givenname", user.getFirstName()));
attrs.add(new LDAPAttribute("mail",user.getEmail()));
attrs.add(new LDAPAttribute("telephoneNumber",user.getPhone()));
LDAPEntry entry = new LDAPEntry(getUserDN(user.getUsername()),attrs);
ldapConn.add(entry);
LDAPModificationSet mods = new LDAPModificationSet();
LDAPAttribute attr = new LDAPAttribute("userpassword",newPassword);
mods.add(LDAPModification.REPLACE,attr);
ldapConn.modify(dn, mods);
I've examined the LDAP server and the entries are created correctly and since
passwords are eventually authenticated, the password modification is apparently
working. Has anyone experienced this or know what may be the cause of these problems?

Answer 1

Derrick,
sounds like a caching problem. There are two caches involved here, the
caching realm and a second cache due to WebLogics use of the Netscape
LDAP classes. You might want to try adjusting the caching realm
settings, the Netscape cache values can be set via V2 properties however
this is undocumented and should probably be handled through support.
Regards,
Stephen
Stephen Davies
Principal Consultant
eGlobal Services Pty. Ltd.
Sydney, Australia
Ph. [phone]
http://www.eglobal.net/