Understanding and Deploying LDAP Directory Services > 20. Developing New Applications |
Chapter 20. Developing New ApplicationsIn the next few chapters, we describe how to leverage your deployed directory service and get more out of your directory investment. One of the most common ways to leverage a directory is to create new applications that use it. As discussed in Chapter 5, "Defining Your Directory Needs," serving the needs of one or more directory-enabled applications is often the driving force behind the initial deployment of a directory service. The first set of applications deployed against a directory service are typically existing, commercial applications. In this chapter, we take the next step and look at creating new directory-enabled applications. From an application developer's point of view, an LDAP directory service is a wonderful thing. LDAP provides a simple, secure, and standard way to access a shared, flexible store of information. A number of high-quality software development kits (SDKs) for writing LDAP applications are available at minimal or no cost. These SDKs free developers from worrying about low-level protocol details and allow them to focus on what they're trying to accomplish with their applications. Use of LDAP by applications is becoming the norm as organizations discover that directory services are a key component of a robust network application infrastructure. In this chapter, we first look at some reasons why it makes sense to develop directory applications. Next, we describe the most common ways that applications use directories. We then provide an overview of the available tools for developing LDAP applications. We also include a section that contains helpful advice for anyone writing an LDAP directory-enabled application, and we conclude with two sample applications. Our goal is to expose you to some of the many different ways that applications can use LDAP, help you generate ideas for new applications that will be useful within your own organization, and show you that developing applications using LDAP is fun, easy, and rewarding . Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty ”write some code!
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Index terms contained in this sectionapplicationsdeveloping 2nd 3rd 4th developing applications 2nd 3rd 4th directories applications developing 2nd 3rd 4th leveraging applications 2nd 3rd 4th |
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