Information On Ldap Servers
As organisations have grown, and migrated from just using telephones to email and web based systems, so the comon company directory has needed to change and grow. In the 1980s telecommunication companies developed the X.500 specification, which is a suite of protocols to create and share a directory of information.
X.500 directory services were accessed via the X.500 Directory Access Protocol (DAP) which used the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) protocol stack. As organisations [spi]began|started[/spin] to use TCP/IP networks, many found the complexity of managing a large OSI/DAP network too much. The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) was developed to access X.500 directory servers over TCP/IP.
An LDAP directory server uses the idea of an organisational structure to organise information, which can include usernames, telephone numbers, office locations, photos, and more. This directory structure can closely match an organisation’s structure, making LDAP directories a natural fit for replacing an organisation’s phonebook. The initial X.500 specification was deliberately designed with this scalable organisation of information in mind, which is one of the main factors behind the success of LDAP.
With the development of Voice Over IP (VOIP) technologies an entire organisation’s information can exist within LDAP, allowing access from email clients, instant messaging applications, and HR systems. Even solutions like Microsoft’s Active Directory are based on LDAP and X.500 directory structures. LDAP’s flexibility makes it an part of any modern infrastructure.