Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 3, 2026

Json2Ldap

Json2Ldap is a JSON-to-LDAP gateway software, written in Java and developed by Nimbus Directory Services. It provides a JSON-RPC 2.0 interface for web clients to access one or more LDAP v3 - compatible directories. The Json2Ldap web API supports the standard LDAP directory requests as well as several extended operations and controls.

Last revised
Jun 3, 2026
Read time
≈ 2 min
Length
423 w
Citations
6
Source
Json2Ldap
DeveloperNimbusDS
Stable release
3.0.2 / April 8, 2014 (2014-04-08)
Operating systemCross-platform
PlatformJava
TypeMiddleware
LicenseProprietary
Websitehttp://connect2id.com

Json2Ldap is a JSON-to-LDAP gateway software, written in Java and developed by Nimbus Directory Services.1 It provides a JSON-RPC 2.0 interface for web clients to access one or more LDAP v3 - compatible directories.2 The Json2Ldap web API supports the standard LDAP directory requests as well as several extended operations and controls.3

Background

Json2Ldap was initially conceived as a lightweight JSON alternative to existing XML-based gateways for providing directory service access to web browsers. Its first official release was in May 2010.4 In May 2011 development of the software was passed to Nimbus Directory Services.5

Interface specification

Json2Ldap provides a JSON web interface for establishing LDAP client connections to one or more directory servers.

Client web interface:

Supported standard LDAP directory operations (as per RFC 4510):

  • Bind (authenticate): simple, plain SASL, digest MD5 SASL, anonymous
  • Search
  • Compare
  • Add a new entry
  • Delete an entry
  • Modify an entry
  • Modify distinguished name (DN)
  • Unbind

Supported extended LDAP operations:

  • Password Modify (RFC 3062)
  • StartTLS (RFC 4511)
  • Who am I (RFC 4532)

Supported extended LDAP controls:

  • Authorisation identity bind control (RFC 3829).
  • Server-side sorting of search results (RFC 2891).
  • Simple paged results (RFC 2696).
  • Virtual-list-view search control (draft-ietf-ldapext-ldapv3-vlv-09)
  • Sub-tree delete (draft-armijo-ldap-treedelete-02).

Non-standard extensions:

Example messages

Example request message

Example directory search request:

{ 
  "method"  : "ldap.search",
  "params"  : { "CID" : "096032ca-ca91-47eb-a366-143832ff4a26",
                "baseDN" : "ou=people,dc=my,dc=org",
	        "scope"  : "SUB",
		"filter" : "(givenName=Alice)" },
  "id"      : "0001",
  "jsonrpc" : "2.0" 
}

Example response message

Example directory search response:

{ 
  "result"  : { "objectClass" : [ "top", "person", "inetOrgPerson" ],
                "uid"         : [ "alice" ],
		"mail"        : [ "alice@wonderland.net" ],
		"sn"          : [ "Kingsleigh" ],
		"cn"          : [ "Alice Kingsleigh" ],
		"initials"    : [ "AK" ],
		"mobile"      : [ "+44 755 123 456" ] },
  "id"      : "0001",
  "jsonrpc" : "2.0"
}

System requirements

Json2Ldap is distributed as a Java web application archive (WAR) for deployment in a Java servlet container.6

See also

See also

References

References