Qué es LDAP

Una definición extrída del libro aqui mostrado y que nos servirá de referencia para comprender el modelo LDAP.

Resumo los extractos mas importantes desde mi punto de vista para comprender la definición de LDAP.

What Is LDAP?

Today, the term LDAP refers to the following things:
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, a standard, extensible Internet protocol used to access directory services
A set of four models that guide you in your use of the directory: an information model that describes what you can put in the directory, a naming model that describes how you arrange and refer to directory data, a functional model that describes what you can do with directory data, and a security model that describes how directory data can be protected from unauthorized access
The LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF), a standard text format for exchanging directory data
LDAP server software, including commercial and open-source implementations
A set of command-line utilities commonly bundled with LDAP servers and LDAP-based applications
The LDAP application programming interfaces (APIs), used to develop LDAP client applications
All of these are described in further detail in the next several sections.

Protocolo LDAP

It's important to understand that the LDAP protocol is a message-oriented protocol. The client constructs an LDAP message containing a request and sends it to the server. The server processes the request and sends the result(s) back to the client as a series of one or more LDAP messages.

En el archivo adjunto el contenido completo en PDF.