LDAP: Programming Directory-Enabled Apps (Paperback)

~ Mark Smith (Author), Timothy A. Howes (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Tim Howes's LDAP: Programming Directory-Enabled Applications with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is a very useful and (given the technical subject matter) surprisingly readable guide to the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), the preferred protocol for providing directory services on today's Internet. The book provides a solid introduction to what LDAP is, including its history and architecture, and then proceeds to cover LDAP API programming via C and C++ in clear, discrete examples that range from simple searching to filtering, reading, and updating LDAP directories. More advanced topics include asynchronous LDAP programming with threads, as well as building a command-line LDAP search utility. For programmers, this text is useful because of its overall clarity, although it also covers some of the specifics of developing in LDAP on Windows 95/NT, Macintosh, and UNIX. Non-programmers will also find the chapters on using command-line versions of LDAP (available in Netscape's implementation) to be very useful. The authors even provide examples of programming LDAP utilities through scripting in Perl, as LDAP applications can be prototyped using scripting languages first, then coded in the actual API using C/C++. On the whole, this is an exceptionally clear book that covers this valuable protocol extremely well.

Product Description

Two years ago, the Internet Engineering Task Force began studying directory protocols, searching for a solution to outdated protocols. That search prompted the creation of LDAP, the new protocol for inter-network directory services. Since that time, Microsoft, Netscape, IBM, Novell and other companies have adopted LDAP as a complete directory services solution. This is the essential resource for programmers, software engineers, and network administrators who need to understand and implement LDAP to keep software applications compliant. If you design or program software for network computing or are interested in directory services, LDAP: Programming Directory-Enabled Applications with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an essential resource to help you understand the LDAP API; learn how to write LDAP programs; understand how to LDAP-enable an existing application; and learn how to use a set of command-line LDAP tools to search and update directory information.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Que; 1 edition (March 22, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578700000
• ISBN-13: 978-1578700004
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,156,166 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good intro, but not much more, April 9, 2001

By	kent dahlgren (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews

One day I was told I needed to learn LDAP, so I ran out and got this book. The first three chapters basically told me what I needed to know. The rest wasn't as helpful, and I ended up on the web answering questions for myself.

I had a hard time getting the referenced LDAP distribution running, and once I did I found other resources to be of more service. It helped me get a base prototype running, but if I had to develop an LDAP system for production use, I'd probably just buy a package rather than build one myself (and using this book for reference.) My time is more valuable that this.

Its too bad they can't just roll the first three chapters into a far cheaper book. In the end that was the most valuable part, and you could have easily published that content on the web.

Get a used version, or borrow a friend's.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enough To Get Started, June 4, 2000

By	SciFi Fan - See all my reviews

This book contains all of the necessary information to write an LDAP application using the C programming language. This book covers the basics of LDAP directories, available LDAP libraries, and steps you through the basic LDAP API calls.

Both the University of Michigan and Netscape libraries are covered, and the advantages/disadvantages of each. This book also breifly explains command line utilities, such as ldapsearch, that are useful for testing and debugging applications.

The book contains a useful reference of the core LDAP APIs that I keep handy when I am programming.

Another section I found useful pertains to LDAP and threading in applications. The threading section covers information that is very important when developing server applications using LDAP.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good introductory book, but could be much better, December 8, 1997

By	[e-mail] (Huntsville AL) - See all my reviews

This book has the distinction of being written by the two guys who probably know more about LDAP than anyone else. Accordingly, you might expect a great deal of solid technical material about how LDAP works. What this book instead delivers is a 462-page description of the University of Michigan LDAP API routines.

Don't get me wrong-- the documentation is useful, but the examples are all extremely simplistic, and many of them won't even compile or run if you type them in verbatim.

If you need to write LDAP-enabled softare, this is about your only choice. For simple applications, this will probably teach you everything you need. If you want to write a server, or a real LDAP DUA or ADUA, this book will get you started, but no more.