What is LDAP
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (commonly referred to as LDAP) is an open application protocol designed to access and maintain distributed directory information services over the internet.
It is considered to be lightweight because, compared to other protocols, it has a much more limited amount of code. The LDAP is a lighter version of DAP (Directory Access Protocol) which is part of a standard for directory services called X.500.
LDAP is most commonly used for authentication purposes, since it stores usernames and passwords. LDAP can also be used in different applications or services to validate users. You could use LDAP to validate credentials with servers such as:
- Docker
- Jenkins
- OpenVPN
- Kubernetes
- Linux Samba
Many directory services such as Microsoft Active Directory and FreeIPA use the LDAP standard as well as servers (email, web servers) and Identity and Access Managment. System administrators can also use LDAP single sign-on to control access to an LDAP database.