Kerberos vs. LDAP: What’s the Difference?

Kerberos and LDAP are both authentication protocols, but they have several important differences that we'll discuss in this video.

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What Is LDAP?:    • What is LDAP? | JumpCloud Video  

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Transcript:

What's the difference between Keberos and LDAP? To start, Keberos and LDAP are both authentication protocols, however, they were designed for different use cases and they use different methods of authentication. Keberos is primarily used for mutual authentication between a client and a service over an untrusted network like the internet. LDAP is primarily used to manage and authenticate to directories. The two protocols also differ in the way they authenticate.

To illustrate this difference, let's take a look at how each protocol works. We'll start with Keberos. As we mentioned, Keberos facilitates mutual authentication. Mutual authentication is a method of authentication that verifies both the user and the service before the user can begin a session with the service. Keberos accomplishes mutual authentication with the ticket granting system that uses shared key cryptography. It sends a series of encrypted messages and tickets sent amongst the user, the service, and a key distribution center, which is hosted by the domain controller. In this transaction, both the client and the service authenticate their identities before the client can begin a session. It's important to note that all of the elements in a Keberos authentication transaction must exist within the same domain. Because Keberos is commonly used by Microsoft, that domain is often Active Directory. For a deeper dive of this process, check out the blog linked in the description.

Now let's take a look at LDAP. LDAP stands for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. It's a protocol that facilitates directory management and communication. This is a key difference from Kerberos, which was designed to be an authentication protocol. While LDAP can and often does authenticate, it also enables directory creation and management.

Let's break this down. LDAP can perform the following main functions:

-Update. This includes adding, deleting, or modifying directory information.
-Authenticate and authorize. The LDAP protocol both authenticates and authorizes users to resources.
-And query. This includes searching and comparing directory information. LDAP authentication is built off of queries. The user enters their login credentials and the LDAP protocol queries the LDAP directory to confirm a match with the credentials stored within the directory. For a deeper dive into LDAP, check out our What is LDAP? video linked in the description.

In summary, both Keberos and LDAP can facilitate authentication, but they go about it in different ways and in different situations. The protocol you use usually depends on the use case, the type of resource, and your environment. Keberos was designed for authentication, while LDAP was designed to be a directory management protocol that can also facilitate authentication. Keberos cannot be used to manage a directory. Keberos uses symmetric key cryptology and mutual authentication, while LDAP matches a user's credential input to what's listed in the directory. Keberos authenticates to resources within the domain, and it's popular with Microsoft systems like Active Directory. LDAP is usually used for technical applications and on-premise resources, like file servers and networking equipment.

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