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What Else Is There Besides OpenLDAP?
The Stunted Leech asks: "I am trying to develop an LDAP interface to an existing customer database and would like to implement a simple LDAP listener that could be queried from e-mail clients. Before everyone suggests importing the data to OpenLDAP or developing a back-end for it, let me just say that it isn't very feasible: I'm the only person assigned to the project, and my company doesn't have the time or hardware resources to maintain an LDAP server. So I'm looking for very simple implementations of LDAP servers, preferably in a scripting language like Perl or Python (we use Perl for CGIs and wxPython for GUI front-ends). I've come across a couple of Java-based ones, but they seemed overly complex - all I need to do is retrieve a contact's e-mail or phone number from our database. Pointers to any sort of simple LDAP servers are welcome, even if they do little more than return the same result to all queries."
You'd be crazy not to re-use all the LDAP protocol work that OpenLDAP does for you. In addition, writing backends is not as hard as you infer.
In your case, you can probably use the Perl backend plugin, and base your custom thingy on:
Run the openldap server on the same machine that's running your database right now and you're done.
Methinks someone is just interested in tinkering with some new programming, not in really solving a problem. While the programmer in me salutes you, get real! Do you honestly think you're going to save either time OR money implementing (even just a subset of) a protocol instead of installing and tuning something that has already been written and debugged for quite a while? You can't have been writing code for very long then.
If I were you, I'd spend the week you think this is going to take you to write installing and learning OpenLDAP instead, and to set up some synchronization mechanism to your current database. This could be as simple as a database trigger that monitors all changes and spits out an LDIF file to import into OpenLDAP. Considering what you say about your resource limitations, these probably aren't enormous databases either.
I'm the only person assigned to the project, and my company doesn't have the time or hardware resources to maintain an LDAP server.
all I need to do is retrieve a contact's e-mail or phone number from our database.
If your requirements are so simple, and your company really doesnt have the hardware resources to implement this simple little thing, (which could easily go on an existing server) then I would suggest two things.
1) Using a paper based system, or just writing a little database and client app or something. (I know, you lose LDAP buzzword points here) or..
2) If your company is too large for such a solution, and REALLY doesnt have the hardware resources, then somethings real wrong. Look at folding up the company.