X.500

X.500 is a series of computer networking standards covering electronic directory services. The X.500 series was developed by ITU-T, formerly known as CCITT. The directory services were developed in order to support the requirements of X.400 electronic mail exchange and name lookup. ISO was a partner in developing the standards, incorporating them into the Open Systems Interconnection suite of protocols. ISO/IEC 9594 is the corresponding ISO identification.

The protocols defined by X.500 include:

• DAP (Directory Access Protocol)
• DSP (Directory System Protocol)
• DISP (Directory Information Shadowing Protocol)
• DOP (Directory Operational Bindings Management Protocol)

X.509, the portion of the standard providing for an authentication framework, is now also widely used outside of the X.500 directory protocols. It specifies a standard format for public-key certificates.

Because these protocols used the OSI networking stack, a number of alternatives to DAP were developed to allow Internet clients to access to the X.500 Directory using the TCP/IP networking stack. The most well-known alternative to DAP is Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). While DAP and X.500 protocols can now use the TCP/IP networking stack, LDAP remains a popular directory access protocol.

List of X.500 series standards

External links

• Understanding X.500 - The Directory (Copyright 1994, 1996 D W Chadwick.)

Categories

Find

Find