What Is an LDIF File?
In computer terminology, LDIF stands for LDAP Data Interchange Format. An LDIF file is a directory service file that can be transferred between servers. Whenever information is transferred automatically between computers, the sender and receiver have to have a common format defined for the record structure. There is no point sending a message or a file written to a secret standard, since the receiver of such a file would not be able to break down the contents into meaningful data. This is why international standards defining neutral formats are published freely. The LDIF format is defined by an openly available protocol.
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Standards
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In the early days of commercial computing, the major players in the field tried to tie customers in to their full range of products by producing proprietary data formats that only other products of the same company could interpret, but the commercial advantages of different companies contributing to a greater system soon became apparent. This was particularly the case for networking, the Internet and data exchange formats. Not-for-profit international standards bodies took over the definition of networking technology and data interchange formats. One of the foremost institutions in this field is the Internet Engineering Task Force. The IETF has responsibility for the LDIF standard.
LDAP
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LDIF has an abbreviation within an abbreviation – LDAP stands for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. LDAP is also promoted by the IETF and it defines a distributed directory service. A distributed database is one that is spread over several servers. This does not mean that several servers hold copies of the same data, but a part of the entire database is held on each server. The LDAP service began as a system for electronic storage of telephone directories. Telecommunications companies were already using a protocol called the Directory Access Protocol for this purpose, but this system was tied to the Open Systems Interconnection networking system and classified as a method called X.500. The Internet is based on an incompatible suite of networking protocols, called TCP/IP. LDAP was created as a TCP/IP-compatible version of DAP.
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Directories
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LDAP was inspired by telephone directories, but it is not written only for this category. Any directory can use LDAP and today it is mainly used for the directories of email systems. LDAP describes a series of “actors” involved in gathering, storing and serving directory entries. LDIF complements this protocol by providing a record structure for the exchange of directory entries between servers.
LDIF Format
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An LDIF file contains records in the LDIF format that are sent to an LDAP server to add or amend directory records. An LDIF file carries the LDIF file extension. The file contains one record per line and is written in plain text.
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References
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