Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

(L-D-A-P)

A directory service protocol providing identification of user and group information. The protocol is being used for groupware products.

As its name implies, LDAP is a simplified protocol for searching and updating directories over the Internet. Each directory entry is defined by a unique distinguished name (DN) which refers to a collection of attributes. The attributes are comprised of a type definition with one or more values for the type (a type example might be "mail" with an E-mail address as the associated value). Types are not limited to text; an image type might be a JPEG picture.

LDAP entries are hierarchical (tree structure). Typically a country will be at the top of a tree with states below that and organizations below that. People, hardware devices, documents, pictures, or most anything else would be at the bottom of the tree.

More Information

• Historic LDAP Info
• OpenLDAP Site