Re: LDAP Newbie Question

[David J N Begley <david@avarice.nepean.uws.edu.au>]

On Wed, 6 Oct 1999, Matthew wrote:

> LDAP appears to have many advantages but I can't seem to get a clear
> picture as to how to get stared.

If you're using PADL Software's pam_ldap and nss_ldap modules, search the
OpenLDAP mailing list archives for "padl" (partial match):

  http://www.openldap.org/lists/#archives

There's been some discussion on this in the past.

> For example I can't tell if I can have my linux logins use LDAP to
> authenticate.

Yes.

> Or do I have to use NIS and ypldap.

You don't "have to" - it's just one option, depending on your needs,
requirements and environment (if you're not already using NIS, then there's no
need to introduce it).

> Also how does PAM fit into the picture? 

PAM acts as an interface to applications that need to perform authentication;
rather than recompiling every auth app each time you change authentication
mechanism, the apps are compiled once to use PAM and from then on changing
authentication mechanisms becomes just an administrative config issue.

Cheers..


dave