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Welcome to Innosoft's LDAP World

What is LDAP World?

LDAP World™ provides current information on the status of the LDAP specifications, availability of LDAP products, and deployment of LDAP-based directories. It is a free and unsupported service provided to the Internet community by Innosoft International, Inc.

What is LDAP?

LDAP is a specification for a client-server protocol to retrieve and manage directory information. It was originally intended as a means for clients on PCs to access X.500 directories, but can also be used with any other directory system that follows the X.500 data models. (See below for X.500 references.)

The first implementation of LDAP was developed at the University of Michigan The earlier version of the protocol, 2, is supported in software from University of Michigan. Version 2 was published as RFC 1777 and RFC 1778.

The current version of the protocol, LDAPv3, was completed in 1997. Pointers to the documents are available here. There are new pages which contain the core specifications and proposed extensions. (Updated January 2, 1998)

LDAP version 3 won the PC Magazine Technical Excellence award at the Fall 1997 COMDEX.

Who implements it?

The LDAP Implementation Survey is a list of announced and available implementations, from over 60 organizations.

Where has LDAP been deployed?

The NameFLOW-Paradise public X.500 directory service holds over a million entries in servers around the world. It can be accessed from LDAP, and via gateways from Web clients.

A complete list of servers by country is maintained at DANTE.

Where else can I get general information on LDAP?

There is an introductory article on LDAP in the October 1996 SunWorld.

Also, Jeff Hodges's LDAP Road Map and FAQ .

References to detailed technical information are listed here in Related Drafts and RFCs. There is also the FAQ for LDAP, and patches.

More information on X.500 can be obtained from Colin Robbin's page at NEXOR.

Comments on this document may be sent to Mark Wahl.

Last modified December 30, 1998.

This document is Copyright 1996-1998 Innosoft International, Inc.
Reproduction or distribution for other than personal use is prohibited.

LDAP World Web Page is a trademark of Innosoft International, Inc.