[SOLVED] Apache web server LDAP - How to allow a non-ldap user access?

Issue

Apologies in advance for sounding naive but I am new to this and stuck since days to no good.

I have set up LDAP on apache web server using below link and it is working good.

https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/mod_ldap.html

I am able to login to the application using a valid account in the directory. Now I want to create a non-ldap user (common user for API access) that can be allowed access through the web server? Is it possible? How?

Solution

I would strongly advise to create API accounts in your Active Directory. (in the company I work for, we use that and call them service accounts)

Centralizing access is the best practice, if you start mixing authentication methods in your application/website it can quickly become a nightmare of spaghetti code to maintain.

Centralizing access also improves security by allowing you to manage access in a single place.

If you do not want to go this way, you have the possibility to create a secondary authentication method through local users that would be stored in a database. If you go this way, please do not store passwords in a non-encrypted way. Look for the following functions: password_hash and password_verify. When using SQL to transact with your database, make sure you do not end up with SQL injection, it can be disastrous to have SQL Injection in your login script.

Answered By - Noah Boegli