packages icon



 LDAP_BIND(3)                OpenLDAP LDVERSION                 LDAP_BIND(3)
                                 RELEASEDATE



 NAME
      ldap_bind, ldap_bind_s, ldap_simple_bind, ldap_simple_bind_s,
      ldap_sasl_bind, ldap_sasl_bind_s, ldap_sasl_interactive_bind_s,
      ldap_parse_sasl_bind_result, ldap_unbind, ldap_unbind_s,
      ldap_unbind_ext, ldap_unbind_ext_s, ldap_set_rebind_proc - LDAP bind
      routines

 LIBRARY
      OpenLDAP LDAP (libldap, -lldap)

 SYNOPSIS
      #include <ldap.h>
      int ldap_bind(LDAP *ld, const char *who, const char *cred
           int method);
      int ldap_bind_s(LDAP *ld, const char *who, const char *cred
           int method);
      int ldap_simple_bind(LDAP *ld, const char *who, const char *passwd
      int ldap_simple_bind_s(LDAP *ld, const char *who, const char *passwd
      int ldap_sasl_bind(LDAP *ld, const char *dn, const char *mechanism
           struct berval *cred, LDAPControl *sctrls[],
           LDAPControl *cctrls[], int *msgidp);
      int ldap_sasl_bind_s(LDAP *ld, const char *dn, const char *mechanism
           struct berval *cred, LDAPControl *sctrls[],
           LDAPControl *cctrls[], struct berval **servercredp);
      int ldap_parse_sasl_bind_result(LDAP *ld, LDAPMessage *res,
           struct berval **servercredp, int freeit);
      int ldap_sasl_interactive_bind_s(LDAP *ld, const char *dn,
           const char *mechs,
           LDAPControl *sctrls[], LDAPControl *cctrls[],
           unsigned flags, LDAP_SASL_INTERACT_PROC *interact,
           void *defaults);
      int ldap_sasl_interactive_bind(LDAP *ld, const char *dn,
           const char *mechs,
           LDAPControl *sctrls[], LDAPControl *cctrls[],
           unsigned flags, LDAP_SASL_INTERACT_PROC *interact,
           void *defaults, LDAPMessage *result,
           const char **rmechp, int *msgidp);
      int (LDAP_SASL_INTERACT_PROC)(LDAP *ld, unsigned flags, void *defaults
      int ldap_unbind(LDAP *ld);
      int ldap_unbind_s(LDAP *ld);
      int ldap_unbind_ext(LDAP *ld, LDAPControl *sctrls[],
           LDAPControl *cctrls[]);
      int ldap_unbind_ext_s(LDAP *ld, LDAPControl *sctrls[],
           LDAPControl *cctrls[]);
      int ldap_set_rebind_proc (LDAP *ld, LDAP_REBIND_PROC *ldap_proc, void *params
      int (LDAP_REBIND_PROC)(LDAP *ld, LDAP_CONST char *url, ber_tag_t request

 DESCRIPTION
      These routines provide various interfaces to the LDAP bind operation.
      After an association with an LDAP server is made using ldap_init(3),
      an LDAP bind operation should be performed before other operations are



                                    - 1 -     Formatted:  September 17, 2026






 LDAP_BIND(3)                OpenLDAP LDVERSION                 LDAP_BIND(3)
                                 RELEASEDATE



      attempted over the connection.  An LDAP bind is required when using
      Version 2 of the LDAP protocol; it is optional for Version 3 but is
      usually needed due to security considerations.  There are three types
      of bind calls, ones providing simple authentication, ones providing
      SASL authentication, and general routines capable of doing either
      simple or SASL authentication.  SASL (Simple Authentication and
      Security Layer) can negotiate one of many different kinds of
      authentication.  Both synchronous and asynchronous versions of each
      variant of the bind call are provided.  All routines take ld as their
      first parameter, as returned from ldap_init(3).

 SIMPLE AUTHENTICATION
      The simplest form of the bind call is ldap_simple_bind_s().  It takes
      the DN to bind as in who, and the userPassword associated with the
      entry in passwd.  It returns an LDAP error indication (see
      ldap_error(3)).  The ldap_simple_bind() call is asynchronous, taking
      the same parameters but only initiating the bind operation and
      returning the message id of the request it sent.  The result of the
      operation can be obtained by a subsequent call to ldap_result(3).  The
      ldap_sasl_bind_s() and asynchronous ldap_sasl_bind() functions can
      also be used to make a simple bind by using LDAP_SASL_SIMPLE as the
      SASL mechanism.

 GENERAL AUTHENTICATION
      The ldap_bind() and ldap_bind_s() routines can be used when the
      authentication method to use needs to be selected at runtime.  They
      both take an extra method parameter selecting the authentication
      method to use.  It should be set to LDAP_AUTH_SIMPLE to select simple
      authentication.  ldap_bind() returns the message id of the request it
      initiates.  ldap_bind_s() returns an LDAP error indication.

 SASL AUTHENTICATION
      For SASL binds the server always ignores any provided DN, so the dn
      parameter should always be NULL.  ldap_sasl_bind_s() sends a single
      SASL bind request with the given SASL mechanism and credentials in the
      cred parameter. The format of the credentials depends on the
      particular SASL mechanism in use. For mechanisms that provide mutual
      authentication the server's credentials will be returned in the
      servercredp parameter.  The routine returns an LDAP error indication
      (see ldap_error(3)).  The ldap_sasl_bind() call is asynchronous,
      taking the same parameters but only sending the request and returning
      the message id of the request it sent. The result of the operation can
      be obtained by a subsequent call to ldap_result(3).  The result must
      be additionally parsed by ldap_parse_sasl_bind_result() to obtain any
      server credentials sent from the server.

      Any returned server credentials should be freed using ber_bvfree().
      Many SASL mechanisms require multiple message exchanges to perform a
      complete authentication. Applications should generally use
      ldap_sasl_interactive_bind_s() rather than calling the basic
      ldap_sasl_bind() functions directly. The mechs parameter should



                                    - 2 -     Formatted:  September 17, 2026






 LDAP_BIND(3)                OpenLDAP LDVERSION                 LDAP_BIND(3)
                                 RELEASEDATE



      contain a space-separated list of candidate mechanisms to use. If this
      parameter is NULL or empty the library will query the
      supportedSASLMechanisms attribute from the server's rootDSE for the
      list of SASL mechanisms the server supports. The flags parameter
      controls the interaction used to retrieve any necessary SASL
      authentication parameters and should be one of:

      LDAP_SASL_AUTOMATIC
           use defaults if available, prompt otherwise

      LDAP_SASL_INTERACTIVE
           always prompt

      LDAP_SASL_QUIET
           never prompt The interact function uses the provided defaults to
           handle requests from the SASL library for particular
           authentication parameters. There is no defined format for the
           defaults information; it is up to the caller to use whatever
           format is appropriate for the supplied interact function.  The
           sasl_interact parameter comes from the underlying SASL library.
           When used with Cyrus SASL this is an array of sasl_interact_t
           structures. The Cyrus SASL library will prompt for a variety of
           inputs, including:

      SASL_CB_GETREALM
           the realm for the authentication attempt

      SASL_CB_AUTHNAME
           the username to authenticate

      SASL_CB_PASS
           the password for the provided username

      SASL_CB_USER
           the username to use for proxy authorization

      SASL_CB_NOECHOPROMPT
           generic prompt for input with input echoing disabled

      SASL_CB_ECHOPROMPT
           generic prompt for input with input echoing enabled

      SASL_CB_LIST_END
           indicates the end of the array of prompts See the Cyrus SASL
           documentation for more details.  Applications which need to
           manage connections asynchronously may use
           ldap_sasl_interactive_bind() instead of the synchronous version.
           A valid mechs parameter must be supplied, otherwise the library
           will be forced to query the server for a list of supported
           mechanisms, and this query will be performed synchronously.  The
           other parameters are the same as for the synchronous function,



                                    - 3 -     Formatted:  September 17, 2026






 LDAP_BIND(3)                OpenLDAP LDVERSION                 LDAP_BIND(3)
                                 RELEASEDATE



           with three additional parameters.  The actual SASL mechanism that
           was used, and the message ID for use with ldap_result() will be
           returned in rmechp and msgidp, respectively.  The value in rmechp
           must not be modified by the caller and must be passed back on
           each subsequent call. The message obtained from ldap_result()
           must be passed in the result parameter.  This parameter must be
           NULL when initiating a new Bind. The caller must free the result
           message after each call using ldap_msgfree().  The
           ldap_sasl_interactive_bind() function returns an LDAP result
           code. If the code is LDAP_SASL_BIND_IN_PROGRESS then the Bind is
           not complete yet, and this function must be called again with the
           next result from the server.

 REBINDING
      The ldap_set_rebind_proc function() sets the process to use for
      binding when an operation returns a referral. This function is used
      when an application needs to bind to another server in order to follow
      a referral or search continuation reference.  The function takes ld,
      the rebind function, and the params, the arbitrary data like state
      information which the client might need to properly rebind.  The
      LDAP_OPT_REFERRALS option in the ld must be set to ON for the
      libraries to use the rebind function. Use the ldap_set_option function
      to set the value.  The rebind function parameters are as follows: The
      ld parameter must be used by the application when binding to the
      referred server if the application wants the libraries to follow the
      referral.  The url parameter points to the URL referral string
      received from the LDAP server.  The LDAP application can use the
      ldap_url_parse(3) function to parse the string into its components.
      The request parameter specifies the type of request that generated the
      referral. The msgid parameter specifies the message ID of the request
      generating the referral.  The params parameter is the same value as
      passed originally to the ldap_set_rebind_proc() function.  The LDAP
      libraries set all the parameters when they call the rebind function.
      The application should not attempt to free either the ld or the url
      structures in the rebind function.  The application must supply to the
      rebind function the required authentication information such as, user
      name, password, and certificates. The rebind function must use a
      synchronous bind method.

 UNBINDING
      The ldap_unbind() call is used to unbind from the directory, terminate
      the current association, and free the resources contained in the ld
      structure.  Once it is called, the connection to the LDAP server is
      closed, and the ld structure is invalid.  The ldap_unbind_s() call is
      just another name for ldap_unbind(); both of these calls are
      synchronous in nature.  The ldap_unbind_ext() and ldap_unbind_ext_s()
      allows the operations to specify  controls.

 ERRORS
      Asynchronous routines will return -1 in case of error, setting the
      ld_errno parameter of the ld structure.  Synchronous routines return



                                    - 4 -     Formatted:  September 17, 2026






 LDAP_BIND(3)                OpenLDAP LDVERSION                 LDAP_BIND(3)
                                 RELEASEDATE



      whatever ld_errno is set to.  See ldap_error(3) for more information.

 NOTES
      If an anonymous bind is sufficient for the application, the rebind
      process need not be provided. The LDAP libraries with the
      LDAP_OPT_REFERRALS option set to ON (default value) will automatically
      follow referrals using an anonymous bind.  If the application needs
      stronger authentication than an anonymous bind, you need to provide a
      rebind process for that authentication method.  The bind method must
      be synchronous.

 SEE ALSO
      ldap(3), ldap_error(3), ldap_open(3), ldap_set_option(3),
      ldap_url_parse(3) RFC 4422 (http://www.rfc-editor.org), Cyrus SASL
      (http://asg.web.cmu.edu/sasl/)

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


































                                    - 5 -     Formatted:  September 17, 2026