LDAP Programming with Java(TM) (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Tony Dahbura (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From centralized corporate phone books to the localized storage of user preferences, Internet directories have many useful features. LDAP Programming with Java offers an excellent tutorial on Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), a popular standard, and the Directory SDK for Java, which lets you program with LDAP efficiently. Written for the working developer, this book demonstrates not only the elements of this Java toolkit but also the strategies and techniques for creating good Internet directories.

There's a nice balance in this text among the background and theory of Internet directories and the many useful sample programs that show LDAP and Java in action. After outlining the development of the LDAP standard, this text gives you concise examples of using Internet directories for such applications as phone books, organizational charts, storing photo IDs centrally, and even providing "location transparency" for user preferences. (This capability allows users to access personalized settings from anywhere on a network.) Other standout material includes security and authentication, including some good detail on signing JAR files for both Netscape and Internet Explorer Web browsers.

This book also provides working sample code for combining LDAP with a variety of Java and Internet APIs such as applets, JavaScript, JavaBeans, and servlets. The working source code is clearly explained, and the authors do a fine job of describing essential programming strategies like authentication and LDAP searching. Filled with practical Java source code and tips, LDAP Programming with Java is an up-to-the-minute resource on using Internet directories to improve software in the enterprise. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Introduction to the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP); history and advantages of Internet directories; the X.500 standard; installing and using the Directory SDK for Java; command-line LDAP; LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF); Distinguished Names (DNs); LDAP searching options; filters and attributes; LDAP authentication techniques; adding, updating, and deleting directory entries; groups; access control lists; using the Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL); using LDAP with applets and JavaScript; JAR signing; LDAP and JavaBeans; location transparency with LDAP; storing organizational structures; pictures and user preferences; LDAP and servlets; options and constraints; LDAP URLs; managing schemas; LDAP controls and referrals; extended operations.

Product Description

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is now a staple of enterprise and Internet software environments. Those involved in Internet development where Java(tm) technology is prominent or in Enterprise Information Systems, will need to understand how to use Java technology - and in particular the Directory SDK for Java - to unlock the power of LDAP.

Written by the designer of the Directory SDK for Java and by a leading implementor of directory-based solutions, LDAP Programming with Java(tm) is the first accurate, concise, and complete guide on how to access LDAP from Java applications. Assuming familiarity with Java programming, the book provides a comprehensive discussion on LDAP, from basic directory concepts through the most advanced techniques. It collects in one convenient resource the many innovative and experienced-based techniques and approaches programmers have discovered to use the Directory SDK to solve LDAP Access challenges.

If you are new to LDAP, you will find helpful background on the role of directories in today's software systems; LDAP methods of storing, accessing, searching, and updating data; and how the Directory SDK for Java helps applications gain access to an LDAP server. Once you have become proficient with the essential concepts and techniques, you can read in depth about authentication, LDAP and JavaScript, working with JavaBeans(tm) for reusable LDAP components, expressing data relationships in a directory, and other advanced LDAP subjects.

Specific topics covered include:

* The LDAP naming and information models * The command-line tools of the SDK * Authentication with a DN password, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) * Configuring access control * Writing LDAP applets for a browser * Accessing the SDK from JavaScript * Storing Configuration and preferences in a directory * Encapsulating LDAP functionality in a JavaBean * Using LDAP in Java servlets * LDAP URLs * Multiple threads and multiple connections * Referrals and replicated systems * LDAP controls * Synchronous and asynchronous operations * Performance tips

The book also presents numerous examples, from simple code snippets to complete components and applications. The companion CD contains the entire book in searchable format, source code for the Directory SDK, and all of the examples from the book.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 692 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (February 14, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201657589
• ISBN-13: 978-0201657586
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #483,361 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Proprietary, but portable, August 21, 2001

By	Robert J. Dorsey (texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a truly excellent book, and the only poor reviews center around it's lack of JNDI coverage, which I find unfortunate. Nowhere does the book infer that it is going to cover jndi, this is the assumption of a buyer who equates the word "java" in the title with jndi. Most people who use jndi (myself included) do so to access an ldap server, so to learn jndi is a bit of an overkill. What most people don't know is that netscape's directory SDK for java will port to any ldap version 3 compliant server (and most version 2's), so although it isn't standardized like jndi, it is portable. p38 "The LDAP SDK provides communications and data handling to any LDAP compliant directory service" p51 "Other LDAP servers that comply with LDAP version 3 will also work with the code and examples in this book, and much of the code will also work with servers that support only LDAP version 2". You'll never find a clearer book on ldap, so don't let the jndi confusion throw you.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing about JNDI ?, February 19, 2000

By A Customer

Java has a directory API called JNDI. This book no more than acknowledge its existence. This book discusses LDAP and Netscape's Directory SDK. The author's mention that the book only covers Directory SDK. They don't provide any information on the differences between JNDI and Directory SDK, how the two can be used together or why they focused exclusively on the Directory SDK. What an oversight! The title is misleading. It should be: 'LDAP and Netscape's Java Directory API'.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Where's the JNDI?, March 4, 2003

By	Albanach (Austin TX, USA) - See all my reviews

Well written book, but based on the author's proprietary API and not JNDI which is the modern approach, thus it's rather dated, hence the discount to 3 stars. The URL and other data still applies, but for actual Java code examples I liked Wilcox "Implementing LDAP" even though it isn't Java-centric. I look forward to the O'Reilly LDAP book to see what it's like.