OpenLDAP – Open Source Directory Service

What is OpenLDAP?Directory Service Symas OpenLDAP Services

What Is OpenLDAP?

Nowadays, a central user management running on LDAP or Active Directory is standard. The server software OpenLDAP is considered a reference implementation of the IETF standard LDAPv3 (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). OpenLDAP is available as open source solution, which is free for use, nonetheless you can opt for professional commercial support if needed.

With OpenLDAP you use one of the most powerful LDAP implementations, both in terms of performance and scalability.

The goal of the software project is to provide a fully equipped open source LDAP suite, which offers client tools, and LDAP libraries in addition to the server. A global community of developers continuously works on the software under the guidance of the software developing company Symas Corporation.

Learn more about the project on the official OpenLDAP website.

Directory Service with OpenLDAP

Directory services, such as OpenLDAP, offer an object-oriented database in which different kinds of information can be stored. This kind of directory server is used when

hierarchically structured data storage is necessary
data should be retrievable via the network with high performance

The entries consist of attributes which are specified as either mandatory or optional attribute via their respective object class. Using these object classes makes it possible to retroactively augment data without having to change the old client logic. This is a significant advantage vis-à-vis relational databases.

OpenLDAP can be used as highly scalable (more than hundreds of millions of entries), and highly performant (thousands of access requests per second) authentication server, nonetheless it can also be used to store all kinds of different data. Moreover, with the overlay mechanism (several plugin interfaces) further customised extensions can be programmed.

Symas OpenLDAP

Apart from the OpenLDAP packages from Linux distributions, Symas OpenLDAP currently is the most stable version available, for which 24/7 support can also be provided.

The company behind Symas OpenLDAP is Symas Corporation, a US partner of DAASI International, whose employees include the main developers of OpenLDAP. The company specialises in open source based solutions for IAM infrastructures. Symas Corporation is the company with the most comprehensive knowledge of OpenLDAP worldwide and offers the following two product versions:

OpenLDAP for Linux

This is an openly accessible version, which replaces the standard OpenLDAP packages in popular Linux distributions, esp. for:

RHEL 7 and 8
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 11,12 and 15
Solutions for other Linux distributions upon request

This option stands out for its superior stability and performance, and is available in the form of a subscription for companies. In addition to extensive support, this also includes several additional features, i. e. password policy management, which are not included in the OpenLDAP for Linux version.

Generally, Symas relies on well-established open source software such as OpenSSL, Cyrus SASL and Heimdal Kerberos for its OpenLDAP distributions. In addition, Symas offers modern technologies for better performance and higher security with the LMDB (Lightning Memory-Mapped Database) database or the PBKDF2 hash procedure.

The Advantages of Symas OpenLDAP:

high performance and high availability
up to date with the latest security patches
includes many enhancements before they are available in general release
third-level support by the developers at Symas
direct packaging by the main developers (24×7 possible)
independence of Linux distributions

Further information about it can be found here.

What OpenLDAP Services Does DAASI International Offer?

In DAASI International you have a strong partner for OpenLDAP!

The team of the Tübingen-based software developer has decades of experience with OpenLDAP, gained in numerous projects and in cooperation with customers from a range of different industries. DAASI International showcased their expertise as an OpenLDAP exhibitor at German trade fairs such as Linuxtag and Systems, acted as host of the OpenLDAP Developer Day (2006 and 2018), and also has excellent connections to the developer team.

You can benefit of the knowledge of DAASI International as listed below:

Consulting: Benefit from the experience of the company, who has worked with LDAP applications in the field of user administration ever since it was founded. Let us advise you.
Support: You have decided to use OpenLDAP and still need support? DAASI International is also there for you after the integration, for example with 2nd level support.
Development: You would like to have functions that OpenLDAP lacks thus far? Do you need a workflow mechanism to approve authorisation attributes? Or is your data from a legacy system not standard-compliant and is therefore not accepted by the OpenLDAP server? DAASI International will implement the desired functions for you through overlay programming.
Trainings: As an expert in this field, DAASI International is happy to pass on their knowledge, upon request also on your premises.