Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)

What is Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)?

LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is an open, vendor-neutral protocol for accessing and maintaining directory information over a network.

LDAP is an industry-standard application protocol used over an Internet Protocol (IP) network. Its most common use is to provide a central place for authentication, storing usernames and passwords that different applications and services can then use to validate users.

How is LDAP used for authentication?

Because LDAP provides a single, central directory of credentials, applications can query it to confirm a user's identity rather than maintaining their own separate list of usernames and passwords. This is the foundation of Single Sign-On (SSO) in many organizations.

For example, LDAP can be used together with an Active Directory to validate the usernames and passwords of staff signing in to a self-hosted MIDAS booking system.

LDAP and MIDAS

Self-hosted editions of MIDAS can authenticate users against an existing Active Directory via LDAP, providing seamless Single Sign-On. For more details, see mid.as/active-directory-integration.