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A directory is a search information specialised database based on attributes.
X.500|ISO 9594[1] is a standard of ITU-S(International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunication Standardisation Burean), previously known like CCITT, to solve the problem of directories. Based on the works made with X.400 (a directory for electronic mail) and the works of ISO (International Standards Organisation) and ECMA (European Computer Manufacturers Association).
The X.501|ISO 9594 part 2. define the models, as the information must be organized, the model of user information, the model of administrative information and the directory service, which defines as the information must be distributed between several systems.
In X.509|ISO 9594 part 8. the standard of authentication and security used for SSL.
X.525|ISO 9594 part 9. indicates as the replication must be between systems.
In X.519|ISO 9594 part 5. the communication protocols are defined, among them the one that have greater importance to us that is DAP - the protocol of access to directories - it defines that operations can be done with the connection: bind, unbind, the objects (entry) and its operation: add, eliminate, modify, search, list, compare, etc.
DAP is a too complex protocol to make servers and clients usables for Internet, then a comfortable protocol must be created to handle these directories: LDAP.
LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is a protocol thought for update and search of Internet (TCP/IP) oriented directories.
The last LDAP version is 3 and it is covered by the RFCs: 2251[2], 2252[3], 2253[4], 2254[5], 2255[6], 2256[7] y 3377[8].