Install and configure a basic LDAP server on Ubuntu

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol or LDAP is a protocol used to manage access to a file and directory hierarchy from some centralized location. The directory is similar to a database; however, it is likely to contain more expressive, attribute-based information. LDAP is mainly used for centralized authentication.

An LDAP server helps to control who has access to the read and update information in the directory.

Getting ready

To install and configure LDAP, we need to first create a Ubuntu server. The current version of the Ubuntu server installation media can be found at http://www.ubuntu.com/download/server.

After downloading it, follow the steps given for the installation of the Ubuntu server.

We need a second system with the Desktop version of Ubuntu installed. This will be used to access your LDAP server through a web interface.

Once this is done, we can proceed with the installation of LDAP.

How to do it…

We shall now start with...