389 Directory Server
| Company type | Open source software project |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Predecessor | Fedora Directory Server |
| Founded | June 1, 2005 |
| Founder | Red Hat |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | LDAP server software |
| Owner | Red Hat |
| Website | directory |
The 389 Directory Server—previously known as Fedora Directory Server—is an Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server created by Red Hat as part of the community-oriented Fedora Project. Its designation is derived from the standard LDAP port number 389.
This server operates on a variety of platforms, such as Fedora Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Debian, Solaris, and HP-UX 11i. In late 2016, preliminary support for FreeBSD was incorporated. Nevertheless, by 2017, the developers intended to discontinue support for HPUX and Solaris in the forthcoming 1.4.x release cycle.
The majority of its source code is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 3, with certain exceptions for plugin modules; other parts are licensed under LGPLv2 or the Apache License. Red Hat markets a commercial edition named Red Hat Directory Server, which includes support agreements tailored for RHEL users.
History
The roots of 389 Directory Server trace back to the University of Michigan’s original Slapd initiative. In 1996, this effort transitioned when developers joined Netscape Communications Corporation, evolving into Netscape Directory Server (NDS). Following AOL’s acquisition of Netscape and subsequent sale of NDS intellectual property to Sun Microsystems, Sun advanced development under JES/SunOne Directory Server, which later became Oracle Directory Server after Oracle acquired Sun. While AOL/Netscape retained substantial rights, Red Hat eventually obtained these rights. On June 1, 2005, Red Hat publicly released most of the source code under the GNU GPL license.
By December 2005, with the release of version 1.0, Red Hat had open-sourced all components—including the administrative server and management console—and continues to maintain them under these licenses.
In May 2009, the project adopted the name 389 Directory Server instead of Fedora Directory Server to establish a more neutral brand that promotes wider adoption across different distributions and platforms.
Features
389 Directory Server complies fully with RFC 4511 and prioritizes usability, reliability, accuracy, and high performance.
Supported RFCs
Among the principal RFCs implemented by 389 Directory Server are:
| RFC | Description |
|---|---|
| 1274 | COSINE and X.500 schema definitions |
| 2222 | Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) |
| 2830 | LDAPv3 Extension for Transport Layer Security (StartTLS) |
| 4527 | Read Entry Controls specification |
Non-RFC Features
In addition to RFC compliance, 389 Directory Server incorporates specialized capabilities designed to improve directory administration:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| MemberOf | Generates reverse links from members back to groups |
| Class of Service | Applies virtual attributes derived from templates to directory entries |
| Distributed Numeric Assignment | Automatically assigns uidNumber/gidNumber values based on server-specific allocations |
| Multimaster Replication | Supports multiple writable master servers replicating data asynchronously |
| Autoscaling | Dynamically adjusts server capacity according to hardware resources |