Appendix B: LDAP Resources

Open Source LDAP Software
LDAP API Implementations
Open Source LDAP Tools and Browsers
LDAP Web Sites
ASN.1 & OID Sites
Related Sites (e.g. Databases)

The following links provide additional information about Open Source LDAP software.

Apache Directory Project

The Apache Directory project is a set of applications written in Java and consisting of an LDAPv3 server (with triggers, stored procedures, views and other capabilities more normally associated with the transactional DB world) and native support of Kerberos5, Password Change protocol and a modest DNS and DHCP capability. It comes with a fixed (currently) back-end (JDBM). The project also includes Apache Directory Studio which is a Java client (using the eclipse framework) optimized for use with Apache Directory Server. Runs on multiple platforms. Apache V 2.0 License.

389 Directory Server (Ex Fedora Directory Server)

The Fedora Directory Server project is part of the Fedora development sponsored by Red Hat. It is written in C and uses a 10 year old code base base (genus appears to be Michigan University -> Netscape Directory Server -> Rehhat Directory Server-> Fedora Directory Server) even though it has only recently been Open Sourced. Very ambitious set of functions - especially operational capabilities. Uses BDB (Berkeley Database) backend. *nix only platforms at this time. GPL.

OpenDS

The OpenDS project is written in Java and is a relatively new Directory Server project being developed under jav.net and seems largely led originally by Sun Microsystems (now in the tender care of Oracle). Very ambitious set of functions. Runs on multiple platforms. Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL).

OpenLDAP

The high-quality LDAP reference design originally based on the University of Michigan's work. Actively developed and widely implemented. GPL.

The following links provide information about LDAP API implemetation and libraries in a variety of languages.

Apache LDAP Studio

Part of the Apache Directory Services project. LDAP Studio is integrated with the Eclipse framework which can take a couple of days to download depending on required feature set. LDAP studio is, as you would expect from an Eclipse package, written in Java and comes with just about anything you could ever need and the LDAP browser is but a modest subset of the total studio package. Apache Software License 2.0 (approved OS license by the Open Source Initiative).

LDAPExplorerTool

LDAP browser - add, edit, delete or view records. Windows and Linux versions. Beta version (mid 2004) but very solid. No search feature. BSD license. Great for accessing rootDSE, subschema etc.

FusionDirectory

LDAP browser - Linux only version. Explorer/browser-like user interface. Seems to be optimized for management of user accounts including Samba PDC. PHP based. GPL V2 license. Originally based on fork of GOsa project.

JXPlore

LDAP Java based browser - add, edit, delete or view records. Donated by CA. OSI license.

LDAP Browser/Editor

Java based LDAP browser - add, edit, delete, search or view records. LDIF support. Windows and Linux versions. No updates since 2001 but still very solid. Not Open Source - as of November 2009 Argonne Labs (the current home of LDAP Browser/Editor) is making it available via the Open Channel Foundation which makes a charge (currently $35) per copy. Great search features.

phpLDAPadmin

Web based LDAP browser - add, edit, delete or view records. Written in PHP - mature and actively developed. GNU license. Very powerful.

The following links provide information about LDAP or X.500:

www.bind9.net LDAP and DNS Resources

www.openldap.org LDAP Resources

www.idealx.org LDAP and SAMBA Resources (in french and english)

http://sec.cs.kent.ac.uk/x500book/ On-line book - Understanding X.500, D.W. Chadwick

The following links provide information about ASN.1 and OIDs:

www.oid-info.com Marvellous site for ASN.1 information. New site with much improved ASN.1 OID interface.

http://www.oss.com/asn1/dubuisson.html Link to obtain Olivier Dubuisson's book ASN.1 - Communication between heterogeneous systems (English version available free in PDF format).

http://www.oss.com/asn1/larmouth.html Link to obtain Professor John Larmouth's book ASN.1 - ASN.1 Complete (English version available free in PDF format).

www.alvestrand.no/objectid/ Life saving site defines huge numbers of OIDs or use Google with search of 'oid x.x.x' and most of the time it will take you to this site. Fantastic work.

ASN.1 & BER 'A Layman's guide to a Subset od ASN.1, BER and DER' RSA Data Security Technical Note, Burton S. Kaliski, Jr. Primarily focussed at security - but mercifully short (36 pages) versus the Dubuisson and Larmouth books both of which are around the 500 page mark - but with clearly more complete coverage.

The following links provide information about topics related to LDAP:

BDB Documentation for BDB (sleepy cat - now owned by Oracle) - you will need it if you are doing serious performance tuning.