---
labels:
- 'Stage-Alpha'
- 'Type-Auth'
summary: LDAP authentication module
...

Introduction
============

This is a Prosody authentication plugin which uses LDAP as the backend.

Dependecies
===========

This module depends on [LuaLDAP](http://www.keplerproject.org/lualdap/)
for connecting to an LDAP server.

Configuration
=============

Copy the module to the prosody modules/plugins directory.

In Prosody's configuration file, under the desired host section, add:

``` {.lua}
authentication = "ldap"
ldap_base = "ou=people,dc=example,dc=com"
```

Further LDAP options are:

  Name             Description                                                                                                            Default value
  ---------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
  ldap\_base       LDAP base directory which stores user accounts                                                                         **Required field**
  ldap\_server     Space-separated list of hostnames or IPs, optionally with port numbers (e.g. "localhost:8389")                         `"localhost"`
  ldap\_rootdn     The distinguished name to auth against                                                                                 `"" (anonymous)`
  ldap\_password   Password for rootdn                                                                                                    `""`
  ldap\_filter     Search filter, with `$user` and `$host` substituded for user- and hostname                                             `"(uid=$user)"`
  ldap\_scope      Search scope. other values: "base" and "subtree"                                                                       `"onelevel"`
  ldap\_tls        Enable TLS (StartTLS) to connect to LDAP (can be true or false). The non-standard 'LDAPS' protocol is not supported.   `false`
  ldap\_mode       How passwords are validated.                                                                                           `"bind"`

**Note:** lua-ldap reads from /etc/ldap/ldap.conf and other files like
`~prosody/.ldaprc` if they exist. Users wanting to use a particular TLS
root certificate can specify it in the normal way using TLS\_CACERT in
the OpenLDAP config file.

Modes
=====

The "getpasswd" mode requires plain text access to passwords in LDAP and
feeds them into Prosodys authentication system. This enables more secure
authentication mechanisms but does not work for all deployments.

The "bind" performs an LDAP bind, does not require plain text access to
passwords but limits you to the PLAIN authentication mechanism.

Compatibility
=============

Works with 0.8 and later.