RE: LDAP for Dummies?

["Walden H. Leverich" <WaldenL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>how it's setup and used?

All depends on what you're trying to do with it, and which LDAP server
you're using. While LDAP may be a "standard" there are several
implementations of the standard.

Since you posted this message in PCTECH and not midrange-l I assume
you're not referring to LDAP on iSeries, so which LDAP server are you
looking to use? 

LDAP is, as the name implies, a directory service. That is it stores
lookup information that applications may need. An obvious use of LDAP
would be for storing the names and passwords of users in an enterprise.
However, it can also be used to store, for example, the connection paths
between two exchange servers. 

We've used it to authenticate users at remote locations from our ASP
product. Given a username and password we attempt to bind to the remote
ldap server and if successful the user/password is valid, if
unsuccessful it's not valid.

LDAP servers tend to be _heavily_ optimized toward read. Writing to LDAP
is an extremely expensive operation compared to reading from an LDAP
server.

There are a couple of good LDAP books around, check Amazon. O'Riley's
are usually good, I know their LDAP book is slanted toward OpenLDAP as
the server.

-Walden

------------
Walden H Leverich III
Tech Software
(516) 627-3800 x11
WaldenL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.TechSoftInc.com

Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.
(Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.)