Oracle Net8 Configuration and Troubleshooting

Chapter 6. Net8 and LDAP

The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol ( LDAP) is taking on increasing significance in the Oracle world. Beginning with Release 8.1.6, Oracle has built support into Net8 for the use of LDAP as a name resolution method. LDAP is now preferred over Oracle Names in cases where you need a centralized repository for net service names. Oracle has also released the Oracle Internet Directory (OID)—a high-performance LDAP server based on the Oracle8i database. This chapter introduces LDAP and then shows you how to make it work with Net8.

What Is LDAP?

Before answering this question, let’s briefly talk about what a directory service really is. A directory is simply something that you use in order to look up and find information. In the physical world, you probably use directories every day. A very common example of a directory is your telephone book. If you need your friend’s phone number, you look up his or her entry in the phone book, and there you will find the phone number to use. Another common directory is the building directory that you may encounter when you enter the lobby of a large building. How else would you know which floor to visit?

Electronic directories sometimes serve purposes that are similar to those served by physical directories. An email directory, for example, may let you use a fellow employee’s name in order to look up his email address. Directories can also serve other purposes. They can be used to find out what servers are on your network, ...