Connect to an OPENDS/LDAP using Joomla 2.5

After some fiddling around I managed to connect to an AD from Joomla, so I would like to share with you the configuration.

Apart from being a requirement in many projects, here are the benefits of using an OPENDS/LDAP for Joomla authentication:

• Centralised user database which can be used from many different systems
• Users have only one username/password for all systems utilizing OPENDS/LDAP
• Users can still be administered inside Joomla, since they are imported into Joomla db the first time they connect to Joomla using LDAP
• Keeps users happy! (no more extra signups)
• Best practice, IT integration

In order to achieve this you just have to follow these steps: 

1. Go to the Joomla's administration plugin manager and enable the Authentication - LDAP plugin:

2. Configure the plugins with your OPENDS/LDAP data. This is the tricky part, which could make you spend manhours and frustrate you a lot if you are not sure about the parameters.

The parameters shown above are for OPENDS and should be ok for the majority of the systems and should allow you to connect using your email credentials