> Does  anybody  know  if  a  bind request has to be issued to an LDAP
> server  before  a  search  request  can be issued? Does the protocol
> specify an order?

LDAPv3  specifically  provides  for  the concept of "implied anonymous
binds." These occur when the first operation sent over a new socket is
a non-bind operation (such as a search or compare); LDAPv3 servers are
to  treat  such  connections  _as  if_  an  anonymous  bind  has  been
successfully performed before the non-bind operation is executed.

However,  it  remains  best  practice  to explicitly perform either an
anonymous  or  an authenticated bind before searches. Yes, at the wire
level,  leaving out the bind step completely will indeed save packets,
and  in  a  situation  where  separate  connections are expected to be
constantly  built  up and torn down, this can improve performance. But
expecting  implied  anonymous  binds to be fully supported by all back
ends  is  reckless, and good LDAP code would allow these to be toggled
on or off.

In  this  case,  the  implied anonymous search may be used just to get
defaultNamingContext information (though this could just as readily be
retrieved  after  the  bind)  and  might not be further (ab)used. Your
packet  trace  will  show  you whether they are only attempting to get
such root info on the first call, or whether indeed their order-of-ops
is completely screwy.

--Sandy


------------------------------------
Sanford Whiteman, Chief Technologist
Broadleaf Systems, a division of
Cypress Integrated Systems, Inc.
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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