What is LDAP(Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)

Definition

LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is a protocol that provides directory services as part of the internet protocol stack.

LDAP Structure

LDAP inherently follows a tree structure and stores data with specific conditions. Each node is referred to as an entry, and classified information is stored in each entry.

Entry Name Table

Entry Name	Full Name	Description
c	Country Name	Country name
st	State Province Name	State or province name
l	Locality Name	City or locality name
cn	Common Name	Common name
sn	Sur Name	Surname
givenName	Given Name	Given name
street	Street Address	Street address
o	Organization Name	Organization (company) name
ou	Organization Unit Name	Organization unit name
dc	Domain Component	Domain name component
mail	Mail	E-mail address
telephoneNumber	Telephone Number	Telephone number
dn	Distinguished Name	Identifier
rdn	Relative Distinguished Name	Relative identifier
uid	User ID	User's name

Web Application Structure Using LDAP

Purpose

LDAP provides a way to store and retrieve information about users, groups, devices, and more using a hierarchical data structure.

Advantages

Efficient data retrieval is possible due to the hierarchical structure of directory services.
Offers features for authentication and access control, enhancing security.
Widely known standard protocol with support for various platforms and languages.

Disadvantages

LDAP can require complex setup and management.
It might not be suitable for handling large amounts of data.
It's more specialized for retrieval and storage rather than insertion or modification.

Example

import ldap

# Connect to LDAP server
conn = ldap.initialize('ldap://ldap.example.com')

# Binding (Authentication)
conn.simple_bind_s('username', 'password')

# Search
base_dn = 'ou=users,dc=example,dc=com'
filter = '(& (cn=john))'
attributes = ['cn', 'email']
result = conn.search_s(base_dn, ldap.SCOPE_SUBTREE, filter, attributes)

# Print results
for dn, entry in result:
    cn = entry['cn'][0].decode('utf-8')
    email = entry['email'][0].decode('utf-8')
    print(f'CN: {cn}, Email: {email}')

# Unbind (Disconnect)
conn.unbind()

In the Python code, the ldap module is used to connect to the LDAP server, perform binding (authentication), search, handle results, and disconnect. The ldap.initialize function establishes a connection to the LDAP server, conn.simple_bind_s performs authentication, and conn.search_s is used for searching. The results are then processed and printed.