This article attempts to give the read a quick primer in LDAP terminology.

• DN - stands for distinguished name. It is a globally unique identifier for an entry in the directory. For example, uid=abc123,ou=People,o=cwru.edu,o=isp
• Scope - LDAP directories are divided into these. Think of the directory as a tree. There is a trunk and branches off that trunk. Those branches have branches themselves. A scope is referring to a branch. When specifying a scope, your LDAP command will only be performed on the specified branch. For most operations at Case, the branch is o=cwru.edu,o=isp.
• Entry - represents a specific record in the directory. An entry has values attached.
• Attributes - name, value pairs associated with specific entries. Attributes may have any number of values (i.e. they can be repeated).
• object class - are structures attached to entries that define what attributes are allowed. For example, object class A may be defined to have attributes name, address, phone. If an entry has object class A associated with it, it will have attributes name, address, and phone.
• filter - When performing a search, this tells the server for what you are searching. Filters can form complex boolean expressions.