ldap_bind function (winldap.h)

Article
09/22/2022

The ldap_bind function asynchronously authenticates a client with the LDAP server. The bind operation identifies a client to the directory server by providing a distinguished name and some type of authentication credential, such as a password. The authentication method used determines the type of required credential.

Caution Unless a TLS (SSL) encrypted session is established, do not use this function. This function sends the name and password in plaintext. An unauthorized user, monitoring network traffic, could read the password. For more information about how to establish an encrypted session, see Initializing a Session.

Syntax

WINLDAPAPI ULONG LDAPAPI ldap_bind(
  [in] LDAP        *ld,
  [in] const PSTR  dn,
  [in] const PCHAR cred,
  [in] ULONG       method
);

Parameters

[in] ld

The session handle.

[in] dn

A pointer to a null-terminated string that contains the distinguished name of the entry used to bind.

[in] cred

A pointer to a null-terminated string that contains the credentials to use for authentication. Arbitrary credentials can be passed using this parameter. The format and content of the credentials depend on the setting of the method parameter. For more information, see the Remarks section.

[in] method

The authentication method to use.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is the message ID of the initiated operation.

If the function fails, it returns –1 and sets the session error parameters in the LDAP structure.

Remarks

This implementation of ldap_bind supports the following authentication method.

Authentication method	Description	Credential
LDAP_AUTH_SIMPLE	Authentication with a plaintext password.	A string that contains the user password.

LDAP_AUTH_SIMPLE is the only authentication method compatible with the asynchronous version of binding; ldap_bind. Using any other authentication method with ldap_bind will fail and return LDAP_PARAM_ERROR. Calling ldap_bind with the LDAP_AUTH_SIMPLE method is equivalent to calling ldap_simple_bind. All other authentication methods require synchronous binding as provided by ldap_bind_s.

Be aware that LDAP 2 servers require an application to bind before attempting any other operations that require authentication.

Multithreading: Bind calls are not safe because they apply to the connection as a whole. Use caution if threads share connections and, when possible, thread the bind operations with other operations.

Note The Microsoft LDAP client uses a default timeout value of 120 seconds for each bind-response roundtrip. This timeout value can be changed using the LDAP_OPT_TIMELIMIT session option. Other operations do not have a timeout unless specified by using ldap_set_option.

When all of the operations on the session handle are completed, terminate the session by passing the LDAP session handle to the ldap_unbind function. Also, if the ldap_bind call fails, the session handle should be freed with a call to ldap_unbind when no longer required for error recovery.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows Vista
Minimum supported server	Windows Server 2008
Target Platform	Windows
Header	winldap.h
Library	Wldap32.lib
DLL	Wldap32.dll