RFC 1959 (rfc1959) - Page 1 of 4
An LDAP URL Format
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group T. Howes
Request for Comments: 1959 M. Smith
Category: Standards Track University of Michigan
June 1996
An LDAP URL Format
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
1. Abstract
LDAP is the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, defined in [1] and
[2]. This document describes a format for an LDAP Uniform Resource
Locator which will allow Internet clients to have direct access to
the LDAP protocol. While LDAP currently is used only as a front end
to the X.500 directory, the URL format described here is general
enough to handle the case of stand-alone LDAP servers (i.e., LDAP
servers not back-ended by X.500).
2. URL Definition
An LDAP URL begins with the protocol prefix "ldap" and is defined by
the following grammar.
::= "ldap://" [ ] "/" [ "?"
[ "?" "?" ] ]
::= [ ":" ]
::= a string as defined in RFC 1485
::= NULL | ::=
| [ "," ]
::= a string as defined in RFC 1777
::= "base" | "one" | "sub"
::= a string as defined in RFC 1558
Howes & Smith Standards Track