Implementing LDAP [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Mark Wilcox (Author), Marc Wilcox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1999

There is growing interest in a standard way of providing access to personal information (e.g. "white pages" data) and simplifying the administration and management of this data. LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is poised to be the solution to these problems. Since the IETF recently approved version 3 of the LDAP protocol, it is now rapidly growing in importance as major companies seek to make their proprietary networks available as LDAP servers. Implementing LDAP comes at a time when programmers everywhere consider LDAP as the answer to their developmental needs.

No prior knowledge of LDAP is assumed as an in depth discussion of the fundamentals of LDAP - its data structure, object hierarchy and syntax - is provided. Client applications are then presented, in a variety of languages, designed to connect efficiently and securely to an LDAP server, search and retrieve information, and modify the data on the server.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Implementing LDAP provides a lot of information about Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) from the points of view of administrators and developers. The administration and configuration material emphasizes Netscape Directory Server 4, but it pays a fair amount of attention to OpenLDAP. (Microsoft Site Server 3 receives no mention.) In addition to product-specific coverage for administrators, there's quite a bit of general information about what LDAP is and how it works--the kind of information you'll need to decide whether LDAP implementation is worthwhile. Wilcox implemented LDAP at the University of North Texas in 1997, shortly after the protocol became standardized. For that reason, this book has its roots in practical considerations.

Programmers will like this book more than other LDAP volumes because it devotes considerable space to how LDAP fits into various languages. Wilcox explores the LDAP issues in the C LDAP software development kit (SDK) from Netscape, the PerLDAP module for Perl, the Netscape Directory SDK for Java, Microsoft's Active Directory Service Interface (ADSI), and the Java Naming and Directory Interfaces (JNDI). There's also some coverage of lesser-known LDAP development tools, including PHP-LDAP and the Net::LDAP Perl module. --David Wall

From the Publisher

This book is intended for programmers and system administrators who need to build LDAP clients and install LDAP servers. It likely will also appeal to that group of experienced web users who have heard about LDAP but wants a definitive reference on the subject. The book, like LDAP itself, has not been written with any specific programming language or operating system in mind, though it makes extensive use of one of the LDAP-enabled servers currently available - Netscape's Directory Server version 4.0.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Peer Information; 1 edition (March 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861002211
• ISBN-13: 978-1861002211
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,359,789 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fair draft, but improve it, and it would be very good., December 10, 1999

By 

Raymond Byczko (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Implementing LDAP (Paperback)

I am up to page 168 of this book. So far it has been sufficiently worthwhile to read, so I plan to continue to the end. There are several good aspects as well as unfortunate ones. First the bad news, therefore leaving a better taste in ones brain.

'Implementing LDAP' seems to suffer from lack of editorial review. For ex, page 163, a sentence reads "In an asynchronous operation, you might set an LDAP search running, freeing your computer is to perform other tasks(...)". The sentence needs to be corrected by removing "is". There are numerous examples of this type of mistake. Either Mark, in being the Champion he is, had to stay up way too many nights to write this book, or Wrox press did not bother to review his work. I suspect the later.

Further, the work presents several different explanations on at least one term. For example, about RDNs, it explains "In general, when we talk about an RDN, we usually mean the left most part of a DN". (p 148) Yet earlier in the text, it is stated that "The DN is made up of components, each of which is called a relative distinguished name (RDN)" (p 48). These two definitions are somewhat different. I, the reader, am left to resolve this. (By doing my own editorial review ? )

Yet, on a more positive note, I found this text one of the more readable, and less filled with "fluff" than other texts. One text I had attempted put me so to sleep, and was filled with how "LDAP would solve this and that and marketing people like it, and so did CEO's etc". It was one of those big door stoppers. "Implementing LDAP" does not seem to suffer as much from this. It is a worthwhile read, especially for the discount price I got it from in a NYC discount book shop (which is filled with newer texts).

The above kind of thing is usually the norm in most software literature that is out there, especially by lesser known outfits. (I never have this kind of problem with O'Reilly.) With this in mind, I believe "Implementing LDAP" deserves the rating I gave it. To WROX - proofread it and I'll give it 4 out of 5.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars 'Tis poorly written, 'tis true, November 18, 1999

By 

Louis (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Implementing LDAP (Paperback)

If in every section 10% of the paragraphs would have been cut, if Wrox press would have used a spell checker, and if an editor would have been allowed in the building, it's possible that I would have been able to focus on the content. My head is still dizzy from shaking it back and forth while reading this book.

The author does seem like a nice guy. Better luck next time, Mark.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unreadable, July 25, 2002

By 

Mike "michael7496" (London, UK) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Implementing LDAP (Paperback)

I needed a crash course into LDAP, and that book was the only one available - and for a good reason! The author, while probably a competent engineer, is a complete failure as an author / teacher. He cannot express even simple concepts. After spending a few frsutrating days with this book, I turned to other texts. Now, already understanding LDAP, I still find most of this book misleading at best. Of course, lack of editorial review did not help this book either; many places in the book don't make sense not just from technical, but also from grammatical standpoint.
Don't waste your time on this one - read "Ldap: Programming Directory-Enabled Applications With Lightweight Directory Access Protocol".
Or even better, simply install iPlanet LDAP server and read the documentation.