Yes, Active Directory is a Microsoft thing that is part of your domain, but it *is* the gold standard.

LDAP is not a product, it's a protocol. But because it's open, many products use it. There's a good chance you can find a product that implements it on Linux, but again, all your applications will need to know how to talk to it.

>Hi Craig,
>
>Thanks for your reply. Where does the Active Directory reside? As far as I know, this is what is on Windows Server which I want to eliminate.
>
>LDAP is new to me. Where would it reside and be administered as well as accessed by the computers on the network?
>
>Bob