What is LDAP?

Directory services are a way to handle properties related to users of a system. If you work with them, you may encounter LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol).

LDAP provides a standard way to query and manage directory information.

Directories typically contain information about:

• Users
• Groups
• Computers
• Organizations

Queries are performed against a hierarchical directory structure. For example:

LDAP://server/ou=Users

Notice how the format is similar to an HTTP URL. LDAP is based on the X.500 directory model and is supported by many directory products.

The IETF RFC 2251 is the one to read about LDAP.