Perl LDAP

Introduction

LDAP is the de-facto Internet directory standard, supported by companies such as Sun, Microsoft, IBM and Novell. LDAP is an integral part of Internet platform offerings like Sun ONE, Microsoft Exchange, and many others.

The perl-ldap distribution is a collection of perl modules which provide an object orientated interface to LDAP servers.

The perl-ldap distribution has several advantages over other LDAP interfaces for perl:

By using the perl object interface the perl-ldap modules provide programmers with an interface which allows complex searches of LDAP directories with only a small amount of code.
All the perl-ldap modules are written entirely in perl, which means that the library is truly cross-platform compatible. No C or XS extensions are used so no C compiler is needed to install the modules. No other LDAP libraries (eg libldap) are required.
It is being actively developed.

Distribution

The latest stable release of the library is perl-ldap-0.68.

Documentation

The POD documentation for the latest release is available online from CPAN:

Net::LDAP: Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
Net::LDAPS: Use LDAP over an SSL connection
Net::LDAPI: Use LDAP over a UNIX-domain socket
Net::LDAP::Message: Message response from LDAP server
Net::LDAP::Intermediate: Intermediate response object base class
Net::LDAP::Intermediate::SyncInfo: Sync Info Message object
Net::LDAP::Search: Object returned by Net::LDAP search method
Net::LDAP::Entry: An LDAP entry object
Net::LDAP::Reference: Search reference
Net::LDAP::Filter: Representation of LDAP filters
Net::LDAP::LDIF: LDIF reading and writing
Net::LDAP::DSML: DSML reading and writing
Net::LDAP::RootDSE: Server information (RootDSE)
Net::LDAP::Schema: Load and manipulate an LDAP v3 Schema
Net::LDAP::Constant: Constants for use with Net::LDAP
Net::LDAP::Util: Utility functions
Net::LDAP::Extra: Load extra Net::LDAP methods
Net::LDAP::Extra::AD: Net::LDAP convenience methods for Active Directory
Net::LDAP::Extra::eDirectory: Net::LDAP extensions for Novell eDirectory

LDAP v3 Server Controls

Net::LDAP::Control: LDAPv3 control object base class
Net::LDAP::Control::Assertion: LDAPv3 Assertion control object
Net::LDAP::Control::DontUseCopy: LDAPv3 Don't Use Copy control object
Net::LDAP::Control::EntryChange: LDAPv3 Entry Change notification response
Net::LDAP::Control::ManageDsaIT: LDAPv3 ManageDsaIT control and response
Net::LDAP::Control::MatchedValues: LDAPv3 MatchedValues control
Net::LDAP::Control::NoOp: LDAPv3 No-Op control object
Net::LDAP::Control::PasswordPolicy: LDAPv3 Password Policy control and response
Net::LDAP::Control::Paged: LDAPv3 Paged results control object
Net::LDAP::Control::PostRead: LDAPv3 Post-Read control object
Net::LDAP::Control::PreRead: LDAPv3 Pre-Read control object
Net::LDAP::Control::PersistentSearch: LDAPv3 Persistent Search control object
Net::LDAP::Control::ProxyAuth: LDAPv3 Proxy Authorization control object
Net::LDAP::Control::Relax: LDAPv3 Relax control object
Net::LDAP::Control::Sort: Server Side Sort (SSS) control object
Net::LDAP::Control::SortResult: Server Side Sort (SSS) result control object
Net::LDAP::Control::Subentries: LDAPv3 Subentries control object
Net::LDAP::Control::SyncDone: LDAPv3 Sync Done control object
Net::LDAP::Control::SyncRequest: LDAPv3 Sync Request control object
Net::LDAP::Control::SyncState: LDAPv3 Sync State control object
Net::LDAP::Control::TreeDelete: LDAPv3 TreeDelete control object
Net::LDAP::Control::VLV: LDAPv3 Virtual List View control object
Net::LDAP::Control::VLVResponse: LDAPv3 Virtual List View server response

LDAP v3 Extended Operations

Net::LDAP::Extension::Cancel: LDAPv3 Cancel operation
Net::LDAP::Extension::Refresh: LDAPv3 Refresh extension object
Net::LDAP::Extension::SetPassword: LDAPv3 Modify Password extension object
Net::LDAP::Extension::WhoAmI: LDAPv3 "Who am I?"" operation

Help

Net::LDAP::FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions about Net::LDAP
Net::LDAP::Examples: PERL LDAP by Example
Net::LDAP::RFC: List of related RFCs
Net::LDAP::Security: Security issues with LDAP connections

Other

Bundle::Net::LDAP: A bundle for Net::LDAP
LWP::Protocol::ldap: Support for using ldap:// schemed URLs following RFC 4516 with LWP
LWP::Protocol::ldapi: Support for using ldapi:// schemed URLs with LWP
LWP::Protocol::ldaps: Support for using ldaps:// schemed URLs with LWP
Net::LDAP::FilterMatch: LDAP entry matching on the Perl side

At the 2001 O'Reilly Open Source Conference, Graham Barr presented this tutorial.

Requirements

You will need the Convert::ASN1 package.

LDAP RFCs

www.bind9.net has a comprehensive list of LDAP RFCs

Mailing List

There is also a mailing list for the perl-ldap project. You do not have to subscribe in order to post a question, and the list is filtered for spam automatically.

List archives

Related Projects

Net::LDAPapi

LDAP Web Resources

Other Publications

Deploying OpenLDAP
(ISBN: 1590594134)
written by Tom Jackiewicz,
published by Apress.
Mentions Net::LDAP modules

The ABCs of LDAP: How to Install, Run, and Administer LDAP Services
(ISBN: 0849313465)
written by Reinhard Voglmaier,
published by Auerbach Pub.
Provides an introduction to Net::LDAP in its chapter on LDAP APIs

Implementing LDAP
(ISBN: 1861002211)
written by Mark Wilcox,
published by Wrox Press.
Mentions perl-ldap in Chapter 11.

Perl for System Administration
(ISBN: 1565926099)
written by David N. Blank-Edelman,
published by O'Reilly & Associates.
Mentions LDAP and perl-ldap in its chapter on Directory Services.

Managing Enterprise Active Directory Services
(ISBN: 0672321254)
written by Robbie Allen and Richard Puckett,
published by Addison-Wesley

LDAP System Administration
(ISBN: 1565924916)
written by Gerald Carter,
published by O'Reilly & Associates.
Has a chapter on Net::LDAP and perl.

Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services, Second Edition
(ISBN: 0672323168)
written by Tim Howes, Mark C Smith and Gordon Good,
published by Addison-Wesley Professional.
It only mentions Net::LDAP in passing but gives good general guidance.