From: Kenn Humborg (kenn at domain bluetree.ie)
Date: Tue 15 Feb 2000 - 18:35:55 GMT
[I'm CC-ing computimes on this because I don't want to see
this error get into print...]
> and the Lightweight Directory Access
> Protocol (LDAP, http://www.OpenLDAP.org), which controls file access in
> large networks."
LDAP does not control file access. It is a standard protocol
for accessing information services. It is especially suited to
data that is more free-form than would fit into a normal database
model. The 'Directory' in LDAP is not a directory on a hard
disk that contains files and other directories (also called a
folder). The 'Directory' in LDAP is closer to a telephone
directory, or a business directory (such as Thomson).
For example, we use a LDAP server in Blue Tree to access a
company-wide address book. (Sort of like a cut-down version
of four11.com or bigfoot.com.)
It is often used to store user account info, rather than the
more traditional /etc/passwd (on Unix) or Windows NT SAM
(Security Account Manager). This proves to be a more flexible
and scaleable user management system when you've got a _lot_
of users (say 50,000+) such as ISPs.
Later,
Kenn
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