Lightweight Directory Access Protocol - Essay Example

The LDAP is an improvement of a 1993 lightweight protocol brainchild, Lightweight Directory Browsing Protocol. With the increase in the scope of the protocol to directory update services beyond directory browsing and searching, the name became LDAP. The overriding purpose for the development of LDAP was to allow access for X.500 directory services through the TCP/IP protocol. X.500 consists of computer networking standards specifically in the area of directory services protocols. This paper examines various aspects of the LDAP protocol.

            Keywords: LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)

Why LAPD is not in wide usage for business and personal use

The principal use of the LDAP would be for browser-side applications with no directory access support, of which there are few. Therefore, the need to use LDAP becomes largely unnecessary. In its goal to remain lightweight, LDAP does not include a security or encryption service, and with the increasing concerns about network security, this option makes its use less prevalent among businesses and individual users (Gracion Software, 2011).

Deciding factors for making LDAP an open protocol

An open source protocol allows user contribution to the software development. When LDAP became open source, the developers intended to eliminate dependence on a select group of vendors and increase the usability options for the internet directory service (Arkills, 2003). By making LDAP an open protocol system, it enabled its usage and faster advancement in a still developing computing field of internet directory services.

Benefits of LADP to the User

LDAP is a lightweight directory management program, meaning that it makes minimal use of the system resources. In addition, apart from offering the traditional directory management tasks, LDAP allows directory update tasks. For many organizations with online directories offering selective access to information, LDAP is quite useful as it allows authentication for access to directory services alongside update services in accordance with user preferences. Finally, LDAP helps computers within a network to perform such tasks as self-authentication to other computers in the network, configuring the network environment, and managing access privileges (Arkills, 2003).