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.

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

The software project delivers a fully equipped open source LDAP suite, which offers console user interface client tools, and LDAP libraries in C in addition to the server. A global community of developers continuously works on the software under the guidance of the US software company Symas Corporation.

Learn more about OpenLDAP on the official website.

Directory Service with OpenLDAP

LDAP directory services offer an object-oriented database in which different kinds of information can be stored. This kind of directory server is used when data is required to be retrievable via the network with high performance. You can benefit from the technology even more if data is supposed to be stored sensibly in an hierarchical tree, e.g. to assign rights only to certain subtrees.

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 is available.

The company behind Symas OpenLDAP is Symas Corporation, a US partner of DAASI International, whose employees include the main developers of OpenLDAP. Symas Corporation is the company with the most comprehensive knowledge of OpenLDAP worldwide and offers the following support options:

1. Symas OpenLDAP Gold

There are two different versions of the Gold subscription: Business Hours and High Severity.

Customer with an OpenLDAP Gold subscription High Severity benefit from services all year around and all around the clock (24x7x365). The service times also include strict SLA which guarantees an initial response to severe defects within two hours. On the other hand, Business Hours uses a 9×5 business hours model, and comes with less strict SLA. Please also note that the business hours are six hours behind German time, hence 02.00-11.00 PM CE(S)T.

The support with the Gold subscriptions includes the following services:

ensuring the software is always up-to-date by at least pointing out new updates or even the installation of them
support for technical and security-related questions
ensuring the software is properly functioning after an operational error was corrected
advice on optimising software configurations and/or of the system integration

2. Symas OpenLDAP Bronze

Essentially, the bronze tier of the Symas OpenLDAP subscriptions comprises the same services as the gold tier. However, all requests are processed based on „best effort“, and thus do not come with any SLA.

The Advantages of Symas OpenLDAP in a Nutshell:

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 for many different Linux distributions
independence of Linux distributions

For further information on Symas OpenLDAP, please refer to our partner’s official website.

The support is exclusively offered in English but can be amended by German support provided by DAASI International.

Moreover, the Gold tier subscription can be expanded by different add-ons provided by Symas or DAASI International, for instance hosting and upgrades/improvements such as setting up monitorings or integration into an IdM.

What OpenLDAP Services Does DAASI International Offer?

In DAASI International you have a strong partner for OpenLDAP!

OpenLDAP was the first open source product for which DAASI International offered their services. Hence, their customers benefit from the experience collected since 2000 and in many different projects.

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 since 2000. We are happy to give you advice.
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? 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.