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LDAP binding for node.js

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node-LDAP 1.0.4

OpenLDAP client bindings for Node.js. Requires libraries from installed.

This latest version implements proper reconnects to a lost LDAP server.

Of note in this release is access to LDAP Syncrepl. With this API, you can subscribe to changes to the LDAP database, and be notified (and fire a callback) when anything is changed in LDAP. Use Syncrepl to completely mirror an LDAP database, or use it to implement triggers that perform an action when LDAP is modified.

The API is finally stable, and (somewhat) sane.


Any and all patches and pull requests are certainly welcome.

Thanks to:

  • Petr Běhan
  • YANG Xudong
  • Victor Powell


Node >= 0.6

For < 0.6 compaibility, check out v0.4


You must ensure you lave the latest OpenLDAP client libraries installed from http:///

To install the 1.0.0 release from npm:

npm install node-LDAP

If this fails, please ensure you have uuid.h available (on Ubuntu, install the uuid-dev package).


new LDAP(otions);

Creating an instance:

var LDAP = require('LDAP');
var ldap = new LDAP({ uri: 'ldap://my.ldap.server', version: 3});;

Now that you have an instance, you can open a connection. This will automatically reconnect until you close(): {
    if (err) {
       throw new Error('Can not connect');
    // connection is ready.



Calling open automatically does an anonymous bind to check to make sure the connection is actually open. If you call simplebind(), you will upgrade the existing anonymous bind.

ldap.simplebind(bind_options, function(err));

Options are binddn and password:

bind_options = {
    binddn: '',
    password: ''
}, function(err, data));

Options are provided as a JS object:

search_options = {
    base: '',
    scope: '',
    filter: '',
    attrs: ''

Scopes are specified as one of the following integers:

  • Connection.BASE = 0;
  • Connection.ONELEVEL = 1;
  • Connection.SUBTREE = 2;
  • Connection.SUBORDINATE = 3;
  • Connection.DEFAULT = -1;

Results are returned as an array of zero or more objects. Each object has attributes named after the LDAP attributes in the found record(s). Each attribute contains an array of values for that attribute (even if the attribute is single-valued - having to check typeof() before you can act on /anything/ is a pet peeve of mine). The exception to this rule is the 'dn' attribute - this is always a single-valued string.

  [ { gidNumber: [ '2000' ],
    objectClass: [ 'posixAccount', 'top', 'account' ],
    uidNumber: [ '3214' ],
    uid: [ 'fred' ],
    homeDirectory: [ '/home/fred' ],
    cn: [ 'fred' ],
    dn: 'cn=fred,dc=ssimicro,dc=com' } ]

LDAP servers are usually limited in how many items they are willing to return - 1024 or 4096 are some typical values. For larger LDAP directories, you need to either partition your results with filter, or use paged search. To get a paged search, add the following attributes to your search request:

search_options = {
    base: '',
    scope: '',
    filter: '',
    attrs: '',
    pagesize: n        

The callback will be called with a new parameter: cookie. Pass this cookie back in subsequent searches to get the next page of results:

search_options = {
    base: '',
    scope: '',
    filter: '',
    attrs: '',
    pagesize: n,
    cookie: cookie


A convenience function that is in here only to encourage developers to do LDAP authentication "the right way" if possible.

ldap.findandbind(fb_options, function(err, data))

Options are exactly like the search options, with the addition of a "password" attribute:

fb_options = {
    base: '',
    filter: '',
    scope: '',
    attrs: '',
    password: ''

Calls the callback with the record it authenticated against.

Note: since findandbind leaves the connection in an authenticated state, you probably don't want to do a findandbind with a general purpose instance of this library, as you would be sending one user's queries on the authenticated connection of the last user to log in. Depending on your configuration, this may not even be an issue, but you should be aware.

Did someone say that asyncronous programming wasn't perilous?

There are three obvious solutions to this problem:

  • Use two instances of this library (and thus two TCP connections) - one for authenication binds, and the other for general purpose use (which may be pre-bound as admin or some other suitably priveleged user). You are then completely in charge of authorization (can this user edit that user?).

  • Create a new instance for each authenticated user, and reconnect that user to their own instance with each page load. The advantage of this strategy is you can then rely on LDAP's authorization systems (slapd then decides what each user can and can't do).

  • Create, bind, and close a connection for each user's initial visit, and use cookies and session trickery for subsequent visits.


ldap.add(dn, [attrs], function(err))

dn is the full DN of the record you want to add, attrs to be provided as follows:

var attrs = [
    { attr: 'objectClass',  vals: [ 'organizationalPerson', 'person', 'top' ] },
    { attr: 'sn',           vals: [ 'Smith' ] },
    { attr: 'badattr',      vals: [ 'Fried' ] }


ldap.modify(dn, [ changes ], function(err))

Modifies the provided dn as per the changes array provided. Ops are one of "add", "delete" or "replace".

var changes = [
    { op: 'add', 
      attr: 'title', 
      vals: [ 'King of Callbacks' ] 


ldap.rename(dn, newrdn, function(err))

Will rename the entry to the new RDN provided.


ldap.rename('cn=name,dc=example,dc=com', 'cn=newname')


To instantiate:

var LDAP = require('LDAP');
var schema = new LDAP.Schema({
    init_attr: function(attr),
    init_obj: function(obj),
    ready: function()

init_attr is called as each attribute is added so you can augment the attributes as they are loaded (add friendly labels, for instance). Similarly, init_obj is called as each objectClass is loaded so you can add your own properties to objectClasses.

ready is called when the schema has been completely loaded from the server.

Once the schema are loaded, you can get an objectClass like this:


Get a specific attribute:


Given a LDAP search, result, get all the possible attributes associated with it:



If you are connecting to an LDAP server with syncrepl overlay enabled, you can be notified of updates to the LDAP tree. Begin by connecting, then issue the ldap.sync() command:


The options are as follows:

    base: '',
    scope: ldap.SUBTREE,
    filter: '(objectClass=*)',
    attrs: '* +',
    rid: '000',
    cookie: '',
    newcookie: function(cookie),
    syncrefresh: function(entryUUIDs, deletes),
    syncrefreshdone: function(),
    syncentry: function(data)

The cookie attribute is used to send a cookie to the server to ensure sync continues where you last left off.

The rid attribute is required, and should be set to a unique value for the server you are syncing to.

The function callbacks are called upon initial refresh, and as new data is available.


This callback fires whenever the server sends a new cookie. You should store this cookie somewhere for use in later reconnects.

syncrefresh(entryUUIDs, deletes)

This callback fires during the initial sync. It will include an array of UUIDs that are either to be deleted from the local DB, or a list of UUIDs that are to be kept in the local DB (whichever list is shorter).

NOTE: this may be handled incorrectly, but I haven't seen OpenLDAP 2.4.29 do anything but pass entryUUIDs back during the inital refresh stage.


This callback is fired when the refresh phase is done. This is where you take the UUIDs provided by syncrefresh and add/delete the entries from the local DB.


As records are added/modified/removed from LDAP, the records are passed to this callback. The entries have two additional single-valued attributes attached: _syncUUID and _syncState. These two attributes notify the callback what should be done with the record.


  • Integration testing for syncrepl.
  • Real-world testing of syncrepl.
  • Testing against Microsoft Active Directory is welcomed, as I don't have a server to test against.
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