LDAP Directory Services

In this chapter, we will review the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and learn how it can be integrated into a Spring Security-enabled application to provide authentication, authorization, and user information services to interested constituents.

During the course of this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• Learning some of the basic concepts related to the LDAP protocol and server implementations
• Configuring a self-contained LDAP server within Spring Security
• Enabling LDAP authentication and authorization
• Understanding the model behind LDAP search and user matching
• Retrieving additional user details from standard LDAP structures
• Differentiating between LDAP authentication methods and evaluating the pros and cons of each type
• Explicitly configuring Spring Security LDAP using Spring bean declarations
• Connecting to external LDAP directories
• Exploring the built-in support for Microsoft AD 
• We will also explore how to customize Spring Security for more flexibility when dealing with custom AD deployments