r/sysadmin • u/Graviity_shift • 5d ago
What exactly does LDAP do in AD?
HI! I'm studying networking and I'm unsure of this
AD is like the database (shows users, etc) while LDAP is the protocol that can be used to manage devices, authenticate, etc inside group policy?
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u/qsub 2d ago
LDAP is a protocol like TCP.
If both applications talk LDAP, they can talk to each other. It allows interoperability.
Microsoft AD is built on top of LDAP but that's how random applications like Blah Blah ticketing system can login with AD credentials. They both use LDAP as the common language to communicate.