LDAP Clients and Directory Services

Although the development of LDAP 3 is proceeding swiftly, few full-featuredLDAP clients are available. Netscape Communicator's and Microsoft IE's emailapplications include a simple LDAP white-pages client (and the browser inPreview Release 3 of Netscape Communicator 4.0 can use the LDAP URL format todisplay more extensive directory information), but you can't use either clientto fully test an LDAP service by modifying directory information.

You can, however, use SWIX, a public domain LDAP-based X.500 client createdat the University of Umeå in Sweden. With SWIX, you can bind anyLDAP-based directory (such as Netscape Directory Server or an NDS server runningNovell's LDAP Service) and add, browse, or modify directory entries

For example, as Screen A shows, you can use SWIX to modify the attributesof an NDS user object. After binding (i.e., authenticating) to the LDAP Servicesfor NDS using an NDS account with the appropriate rights, the user can browsethe directory tree by expanding an organizational unit to display the tree'sobjects. After you highlight an object and select Modify from the Directorymenu, SWIX shifts into an edit mode. You can change any attribute shown beforeclicking the Update button to write the changes to the directory. You candownload SWIX 2.4 from the Windows NT Magazine's Web site athttp://www.winntmag.com.