View source for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

'''Lightweight Directory Access Protocol''' ('''LDAP''') is a software protocol for enabling anyone to locate organizations, individuals, and other resources such as files and devices in a network, whether on the public Internet or on a corporate intranet. LDAP is a "lightweight" (smaller amount of code) version of Directory Access Protocol ([[DAP]]), which is part of [[X.500]], a standard for directory services in a network. LDAP is lighter because in its initial version it did not include security features.<ref>[http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/LDAP About LDAP]</ref>

The current version of the LDAP is version 3(v3) published as RFC 4510.<ref>[http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2251.txt ietf.org]</ref>

==Background==
LDAP was originally created by [[Tim Howes]] of the University of Michigan, [[Steve Kille]] of Isode Limited, and [[Wengyik Yeong]] of [[Performance Systems International]] in 1993. The protocol was originally intended to be a lightweight alternative protocol for accessing [[X.500]] directory services through the simpler [[TCP/IP]] protocol stack. 

The [[X.500]] directory services were accessed via the [[X.500]] Directory Access Protocol ([[DAP]]), which required the Open Systems Interconnection ([[OSI]]) protocol stack. The advent of LDAP removed the necessity of the [[OSI]] protocol.

The version 3 of the LDAP was developed by Tim Howes and Steve Kille in 1997.<ref>[http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3377 ietf.org]</ref>

== External links ==
* [http://www.kingsmountain.com/directory/doc/ldap/ldap.html The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol: X.500 Lite]
* [http://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/5.2/Deployment_Guide/ch-ldap.html Tutorial on LDAP]

== References ==
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[[Category:Glossary]]