LDAP

(Portions adapted from an OIT KnowledgeBase page.)

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, or LDAP, is a networking protocol for querying and modifying directory services running over TCP/IP. An LDAP directory usually follows the X.500 model: it is a tree of entries, each of which consists of a set of named attributes with values. The CS department uses LDAP for authentication to the portal machines, email, and many other services.