LDAP Directory Technology Review

User authentication is a relatively easy task as it is the process that Directory Servers are well known and used for. The customer fills-in the login form, the process checks if the username and password combination is correct and redirects the user accordingly.

The DFD Diagram below indicates how the system authenticates users against the information held in the OpenLDAP Directory.

Data Flow Diagram for the User Authentication System

Because this sub-system is very simple and small – involves only one entity – an ERD diagram is not required as there is only one entity involved (user). Every user must authenticate before they can access any of the pages available for the users group they belong to.

Passwords get encrypted before being stored into the database using the Message-Digest Algorithm 5 (MD5). After the customer has submitted his username and password using the login form, the authentication sub-system is encrypting the password and compares it with the one stored into the directory.