OpenLDAP on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

This is a repackaged open source software product wherein additional charges apply for cloudimg support services.

OpenLDAP - Standards Based LDAP Directory Server, by cloudimg

Deploy a private, self-hosted LDAP directory on your own Azure infrastructure in minutes - no manual installation, no shared credentials, no directory to hand-configure. This image delivers OpenLDAP 2.6.10 fully installed and hardened, so your own applications and services can start authenticating against one shared user directory as soon as the VM boots.

Why This Image Instead of Manual Installation

Standing up an LDAP directory by hand means installing slapd, choosing a backend, laying out the base directory, generating the administrator password and configuring TLS. This image eliminates that operational burden:

• Pre-configured slapd serving LDAP on port 389 (with StartTLS) and LDAPS on port 636
• Secure by default: no usable directory credential is baked in; a unique administrator password is generated, and the TLS certificate is regenerated, on the first boot of every VM
• A usable directory out of the box: the base directory dc=example,dc=com is seeded with organisational units and a demo entry so queries return data immediately
• Immediate time-to-value: point your services at the directory within minutes of the VM starting
• Ongoing expert support: 24/7 cloudimg engineers handle upgrades, storage migration and TLS

Use Case: One Shared Directory for Your Own Services

Teams running several applications want one place to manage user accounts instead of a separate login for each. With this image they launch a VM, retrieve the per-VM administrator password, and point services that support LDAP authentication at the directory - all within their own VNet with full control of the data.

Application Stack

OpenLDAP is the widely deployed open source implementation of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. Its standalone daemon, slapd, uses the fast memory mapped mdb backend and is configured dynamically through its own cn=config directory. This image serves LDAP on port 389 and LDAPS on port 636, with the directory database on a dedicated Azure data disk, separate from the operating system disk and re-provisioned with every VM. The default base DN is dc=example,dc=com and the administrator binds as cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com.

Secure By Default

The image ships with no usable directory credential of any kind. On the first boot of every VM, OpenLDAP rotates the administrator password to a unique value, regenerates the self-signed TLS certificate so no key material is ever shared between instances, and writes the credentials to a root-only file. Anonymous writes are refused, and there is no default login to change.

Directory Native

slapd speaks standard LDAP v3, so the services you already run can authenticate against it directly. The seeded base directory includes ou=people and ou=groups so you can create your own users and service accounts, and LDAPS on port 636 gives you encrypted binds out of the box.

Getting Started

1. Launch the image on your chosen Azure VM size 2. Retrieve the per-VM administrator password from the root-only credentials file 3. Query the seeded directory with ldapsearch to confirm the bind and the data 4. Point your services at the LDAP endpoint on port 389 or LDAPS on port 636 using the base DN and a dedicated read-only service account

Licensing and Pricing

OpenLDAP is licensed under the OpenLDAP Public License, a permissive open source licence, and is free; there is no per-user or per-seat fee. The cloudimg charge of 0.04 US dollars per vCPU hour covers packaging, security patching, image maintenance, and 24/7 expert support. Restrict ports 389 and 636 to your VNet and use LDAPS for binds that cross a network boundary.

cloudimg Support

24/7 technical support by email covers deployment, upgrades, storage migration, LDAP integration and TLS. Critical issues receive a one-hour average response time.

OpenLDAP is a registered trademark of the OpenLDAP Foundation. All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.