[Zope] Dumb question: Can Zope be used as a LDAP server?

[Jens Vagelpohl]

maybe i'm very conservative on these matters, but i still believe very 
much in "do one thing well".

if you're trying to do everything under the sun you'll end up doing a 
lot - but each implementation will end up being mediocre at best and 
will lack flexibility for power users. you might meet your goal 
(integration, ease of use for beginners) but you might lose the 
experienced users along the way.

looking at the big picture, who is the audience asking for e.g. LDAP 
integration? from my continuing work on the LDAPUserFolder (which, by 
the way, is also built on a "do one thing, and do it well" philosophy)  
i can attest to the fact that the majority seems to be users with 
existing LDAP infrastructures (-> meaning the experienced users who 
need maximum flexibility). that audience most likely will not be 
interested in some limited LDAP server capability in zope itself.

like i said, could just be me being very conservative in these matters.

jens



On Sunday, Dec 8, 2002, at 11:37 US/Eastern, Eron Lloyd wrote:

> I think this is probably my biggest concern with Zope...what does it 
> want to
> be? With Twisted, it's simple--it wants to become as much as possible, 
> as
> integrated as possible, as soon as possible. The truth is, when 
> developing
> network applications, you *will* usually need several different 
> disparate
> systems, like HTTP, IMAP, and LDAP. This is a big reason why platforms 
> like
> MS Exchange are so popular. Also, as in projects like KDE, users 
> benefit from
> the *tight* integration of it's applications. When building a Web 
> community,
> for example, it would be much easier to configure and develop when the 
> Web,
> email, and messaging servers are all based on the same platform. 
> Compared to
> using an Apache, Courier, Jabber combo, all having different needs,
> administration, configuration, and communication facilities. So I 
> guess this
> is why the conversation keeps coming back up...users *want* that level 
> of
> integration. Zope already has one foot in the door in this respect. So 
> to me,
> it's never a matter of wheel re-invention, but a matter of integration 
> and
> need. The old UNIX adage, "do one thing well" is pretty much a thing 
> of the
> past.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Eron
>
> On Sunday 08 December 2002 11:06 am, Jens Vagelpohl wrote:
>> dirk hits it on the head.
>>
>> why reinvent the wheel? it is not that hard to install and run 
>> OpenLDAP
>> and even create your own custom schemata. and then there are products
>> that enable you to maintain the data in LDAP from within zope itself.
>>
>> what's next, a gopher server for zope? ;)
>>
>> jens
>>
>> P.S.: i agree that it would be a somewhat cool thing. but is the
>> undoubtedly large effort worth it? you'll work a lot and never match
>> the capabilities of a real LDAP server.
>>
>> On Sunday, Dec 8, 2002, at 10:10 US/Eastern, Dirk Datzert wrote:
>>> Stephan Richter schrieb:
>>>> On Sunday 08 December 2002 09:43, Luca Olivetti wrote:
>>>>> Dirk Datzert wrote:
>>>>>> Hi Luis,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Zope is an application server, where you can run your own
>>>>>> LDAP-administration software.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But the LDAP-Server is a standalone server which is not zope !
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You can bind users in zope against users in LDAP (with
>>>>>> LDAPUserFolder)
>>>>>> but this did not mean that zope is a LDAP-Server.
>>>>>
>>>>> Yes, but imagine the opposite: that you have a contacts database in
>>>>> zope
>>>>> and want it to be useable by, say, mozilla or any other mail client
>>>>> that
>>>>> can query ldap servers for its address book.
>>>>
>>>> Well, start an effort to write an LDAP server on top of Zope. LDAP 
>>>> is
>>>> a
>>>> complex protocol; I would be glad to see a Zope-based server. There
>>>> is an
>>>> LDAP server module for Twisted you might want to check out for a
>>>> start.
>>>
>>> I would suggest: put the contacts database on a real LDAP-Server 
>>> (e.g.
>>> openldap - full functional and very well working LDAP-server)
>>>
>>> Write on top of Zope your management tool for that contacts database.
>>> There are some products to do this: LDAPUserFolder +
>>> LDAPDirectoryManager
>>>
>>> -> use the right tool for the right issue, don't reinvent the wheel !
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Dirk
>>>
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