I am building an application based on GXT (J2EE). Now the problem is that I have to connect the application to a LDAP server. Can you tell me how to connect a LDAP server from our java application and what Library or API I will have to use for that?
+1
A:
To connect to LDAP, check out the following packages/classes:
javax.naming.directory.*
javax.naming.ladp.*
com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory
com.sun.jndi.ldap.ControlFactory
Example code:
//build a hashtable containing all the necessary configuration parameters
Hashtable<String, String> environment = new Hashtable<String, String>();
environment.put(LdapContext.CONTROL_FACTORIES, conf.getProperty("ldap.factories.control"));
environment.put(Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY, conf.getProperty("ldap.factories.initctx"));
environment.put(Context.PROVIDER_URL, conf.getProperty("ldap.host"));
environment.put(Context.SECURITY_AUTHENTICATION, "simple");
environment.put(Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, conf.getProperty("ldap.user"));
environment.put(Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, conf.getProperty("ldap.password"));
environment.put(Context.STATE_FACTORIES, "PersonStateFactory");
environment.put(Context.OBJECT_FACTORIES, "PersonObjectFactory");
// connect to LDAP
DirContext ctx = new InitialDirContext(environment);
// Specify the search filter
String FILTER = "(&(objectClass=Person) ((sAMAccountName=" + user.getUsername() + ")))";
// limit returned attributes to those we care about
String[] attrIDs = { "sn", "givenName" };
SearchControls ctls = new SearchControls();
ctls.setReturningAttributes(attrIDs);
ctls.setSearchScope(SearchControls.SUBTREE_SCOPE);
// Search for objects using filter and controls
NamingEnumeration answer = ctx.search(searchBase, FILTER, ctls);
...
SearchResult sr = (SearchResult) answer.next();
Attributes attrs = sr.getAttributes();
surName = attrs.get("sn").toString();
givenName = attrs.get("givenName").toString();
...
In this example I have a Configuration object that reads these values from a config file.
The values would be :
# LDAP parameters
ldap.host = ldap://ldap.mydomain.com:389
ldap.factories.initctx = com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory
ldap.factories.control = com.sun.jndi.ldap.ControlFactory
ldap.searchbase = dc=mydomain,dc=us
ldap.user = MYDOMAIN.COM\\ldap-user
ldap.userBase= MYDOMAIN.COM\\
ldap.password = ******
Pierre Henry
2010-05-21 09:59:17
In my case I don't want to specify any search filter for the connection. actually I want to establish the connection at the start up of the application and retrieve information whenever we need from any part of the application. Now whether I will need different connections each time we try to connect the LDAP server or what? Again is the search filter compulsory for a connection?
dhiraj
2010-05-21 10:24:11
How can we check whether the connection to a LDAP server is successfully done or not?
dhiraj
2010-05-21 10:49:49
dhiraj : you don't need the search filter to get the connection (ie the context). Depending on the frequency of acces to the LDAP, i would either keep the connection alive an reuse it (and re-open it if it fail, as it could be closed unexpectedly), or get a new connection each time (closing it after each time also). Personnaly i would favor the second (more robust IMHO).
PATRY
2010-05-21 10:53:55
Dhiraj : the context (ie ctx variable) *is* the connexion. It check the elements it's given in the environment (notably user and password), and will fail if it's not valid.
PATRY
2010-05-21 10:57:37
Thanx a lot for your valuable answers.
dhiraj
2010-05-21 12:38:58
The filter is used to query the directory in order to find the information you need. In my example I search for a user (Person) which sAMAcountName is equal to user.getUsername().
Pierre Henry
2010-05-21 12:52:07
That's a *great* response, Pierre; welcome to the site!
Dean J
2010-07-26 14:46:28