When you need to manage your organization’s directory and user authorizations, you might not be sure where to start. There are several options on the market, but perhaps the idea of an open-source option like OpenLDAP is appealing to you. This just leaves one question: how do you effectively utilize OpenLDAP?
It’s time to explore what OpenLDAP is, how it works, the challenges therein, and why Foxpass can serve as a powerful, user-friendly alternative. Let’s begin...
What is OpenLDAP?
OpenLDAP is a free, open-sourced Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) implementation started by Kurt Zeilenga in 1998. It was developed as part of the OpenLDAP Project, and is used to implement directory services so organizations can centralize user authentication and authorization.
OpenLDAP runs on numerous Linux Distributions, including Ubuntu. Historically, the OpenLDAP server is called slapd, which listens for LDAP connections on any number of ports, the default being 389.
OpenLDAP’s architecture was originally split, with a frontend that handles network access and procol processing, and a backend dedicated to data storage. Modern OpenLDAP architecture is modular, so many types of backends are now available for other technological databases, not just traditional ones.
The Pros and Cons of Running OpenLDAP
While OpenLDAP’s agility allows authentication with LDAP on many different types of applications and devices, there are some serious negatives:
You need 24/7 availability of a trained IT team to configure, setup, and deploy OpenLDAP
In order to run OpenLDAP optimally you need 100% uptime to ensure your users and devices can authenticate seamlessly.
Configuring the myriad client applications to talk to OpenLDAP is no easy feat. There are many configurations, including getting the ou, dc, dn, and cn correct. Just this step could require hours of your time going back and forth and fiddling with options.
The fundamental reason most use OpenLDAP is for access control but simply navigating who should get access to what applications and devices and for how long can be very convoluted to sort through continually.
Many applications do not play nicely with LDAP when connecting to a certain port. This can be extremely time consuming, and many admins aren’t sufficiently equipped with proper knowledge concerning correct certificates and encryption methods.
Many IT admins shy away from using OpenLDAP because the technical wherewithal requiring a great deal of effort for simple things, such as managing directories for machine access.
Other alternatives for user management, like Microsoft Active Directory, Chef, or Puppet, still require a lot of extra effort to run efficiently.
Run LDAP with Foxpass
If you need to run LDAP, there is a better way than by operating your own OpenLDAP server!
Foxpass’s SaaS-based LDAP implementation will save you countless hours and save your IT team from a huge, ongoing headache.
The Foxpass Team has spent a lot of time fine-tuning its cloud-based directory service options. With Foxpass, users can be easily grouped to receive delegated access to the appropriate resources and designate the appropriate levels of permissions where necessary.
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