Authentication

Open Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is an internet protocol that email and other programs use to look up information from a server.

LDAP is not limited to contact information, or even information about people. LDAP is used to look up encryption certificates, pointers to printers and other services on a network, and provide "single signon" where one password for a user is shared between many services. LDAP is appropriate for any kind of directory-like information, where fast lookups and less-frequent updates are the norm.

As a protocol, LDAP does not define how programs work on either the client or server side. It defines the "language" used for client programs to talk to servers (and servers to servers, too). LDAP also defines permissions, set by the administrator to allow only certain people to access the LDAP database, and optionally keep certain data private and schema, a way to describe the format and attributes of data in the server. While LDAP continues to be a popular standard for communicating record-based, directory-like data between programs. LinuxIT can provide advice and support in the application of LDAP.