What is LDAP?
LDAP, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, is an Internet protocol that e-mail and other programs use to look up information [addresses] from a server.
Every e-mail program has a personal address book, but how do you look up an address for someone who's never sent you e-mail? How can an organization keep one centralized up-to-date phone book that everybody has access to? That question led software companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Lotus, and Netscape to support a standard called LDAP. "LDAP-aware" client programs can ask LDAP servers to look up entries in a wide variety of ways. LDAP servers index all the data in their entries, and "filters" may be used to select just the person or group you want, and return just the information you want. |
