what is LDAP and what does it do?

i went to openldap website but i don't get it. can someone give me a quick example of how is this protocol used

LDAP is an "easy" version of DAP.

LDAP = Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
DAP = Directory Access Protocol

The directory in question is a standardized database containing information about domains, organizational units, groups users etc.

DAP is the standardized protocol for querying the directory. LADP is a "quick and dirty" way of querying the same thing.

So. if I want to know the users in the organizational unit, (OU), Accounting in the domain, (CN), mydomain.com then my LDAP request suitably formatted, (and I can't do it off the top of my head), would ask for the users in CN=mydomain.com OU=Accounting. The resultant list will be all the users that have those two attributes assigned to their accounts.

is this protocol used in windows Active Directory, if not is it used in NT.... or only *nix

Win2k/XP AD.... Yes.... Novell uses it to..... I understand there are *nix versions that can query a directory too...... I think there is an add-on that allows NT to access it too but it generally post-dates NT itself IIRC.

ldp.exe is a great tool to query information from ldap (port 389).

It can be found on an WIN2000 support disc.

or

http://lists.gpick.com/pages/Windows_2000_Tools.htm



cheers

sorry i know this i my old thread but i like to follow up on info when it builds up

when you say "quick and dirty" .... can you pls tell me what are the accuall differences ... pls don't qote the code or anything like that

if the ladp is quicker then it must be better ...right???