LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is a protocol that provides the feasibility of maintaining, organizing, monitoring, and distributing data over an internet protocol network either public Internet, corporate intranet, or both. Directory service of LDAP plays a very useful role in sharing the information of users, services, systems, applications, and individuals through the network. LDAP directory services provide the hierarchical structure and well-organized set of information such as user record contain a filter, that disables user by using active flag this option is available in every record of the user.

Lets we see some uses and benefits of using LDAP.

LDAP is obvious from his name is a lightweight directory. It is implemented very easily over the internet. The design of LDAP was prepared and implemented at the University Of Michigan. It is designed such that it supports today's internet. LDAP has impressed the later internet protocols such as later versions of X.500, Service Location protocol, Directory Service Markup Language, XML Enabled Directory, and Service Provisioning Markup Language.

The main benefit of using the LDAP provides a centralized data sharing repository. Instead, each department uses an individual repository to store the information such as email data, telephone no., address, etc. LDAP provides one sharing repository where all the departments of the organization can access data when needed. A centralized repository saves time instead to contact different departments for getting the information you can access and get the information without disturbing other departments.

Every organization has some sensitive data need to secure this. Data security and protection are other benefits of using LDAP. LDAP uses a secure security layer and transport layer security to secure sensitive data. LDAP is also used to secure the infrastructure from end-users.

LDAP provides a scalable directory infrastructure. LDAP supports the automatic failover features and dynamically shared the load balance. Another benefit of using the LDAP is to provide a graphical view of load, performance, trend, and traffic. Using a graphical interface, it is easy to monitor and analyze the directory infrastructure.