Hello Rushabh,

To answer your question, they are both supplying domain services and database access to your directory. LDAP is used for it’s lightweight solutions of accessing the database through an LDAP server or Linux solutions and requires an LDAP Agent to be installed on the LDAP server. AD requires to be installed on a Windows server, and is integrated with Okta via an AD Agent). In terms of setting up and using these services, they are both accessible and user friendly via their interfaces (AD – Server Manager; LDAP – e.g. LdapAdmin)

[AD installation process.]

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is an open application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol (IP) network. A common use of LDAP is to provide a central place to store usernames and passwords. This allows many different applications and services to connect to the LDAP server to validate users.

A client starts an LDAP session by connecting to an LDAP server Integrating LDAP with Okta (see also: OpenLDAP Server Integration)

A client starts an LDAP session by connecting to an LDAP server, called a Directory System Agent (DSA), by default on TCP and UDP port 389, or on port 636 for LDAPS. The client then sends an operation request to the server, and a server sends responses in return. With some exceptions, the client does not need to wait for a response before sending the next request, and the server may send the responses in any order. All information is transmitted using Basic Encoding Rules (BER).

The following operations can be requested:

 Bind – authenticate and specify LDAP protocol version

 Search – search for and/or retrieve directory entries

 Add a new entry

 Delete an entry

 Modify an entry

 Modify Distinguished Name (DN) – move or rename an entry

 Abandon – abort a previous request

A common alternative method of securing LDAP communication is using an SSL tunnel. The default port for LDAP over SSL is 636.

The Directory structure is organized in entries, consisting of attributes (a name and one or more values)

         Whereas Active Directory (AD) is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems as a set of processes and services. Initially, Active Directory was only in charge of centralized domain management.

         A server running Active Directory Domain Service (AD DS) is called a domain controller. It authenticates and authorizes all users and computers in a Windows domain type network—assigning and enforcing security policies for all computers and installing or updating software. For example, when a user logs into a computer that is part of a Windows domain, Active Directory checks the submitted password and determines whether the user is a system administrator or normal user. Also, it allows management and storage of information, provides authentication and authorization mechanisms, and establishes a framework to deploy other related services: Certificate Services, Active Directory Federation Services, Lightweight Directory Services, and Rights Management Services.