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Django LDAP user authentication backend for Python 3.

Project description

django-python3-ldap provides a Django LDAP user authentication backend for Python 3.


  • Authenticate users with an LDAP server.
  • Sync LDAP users with a local Django database.
  • Supports custom Django user models.
  • Works in Python 3!


  1. Install using pip install django-python3-ldap.
  2. Add 'django_python3_ldap' to your INSTALLED_APPS setting.
  3. Set your AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS setting to ("django_python3_ldap.auth.LDAPBackend",)
  4. Configure the settings for your LDAP server (see Available settings, below).
  5. Optionally, run ./ ldap_sync_users to perform an initial sync of LDAP users.

Available settings

# The URL of the LDAP server.
LDAP_AUTH_URL = "ldap://localhost:389"

# The LDAP search base for looking up users.
LDAP_AUTH_SEARCH_BASE = "ou=people,dc=example,dc=com"

# The LDAP class that represents a user.

# User model fields mapped to the LDAP
# attributes that represent them.
    "username": "uid",
    "first_name": "givenName",
    "last_name": "sn",
    "email": "mail",

# A tuple of fields used to uniquely identify a user.

# Callable that transforms the user data loaded from
# LDAP into a form suitable for creating a user.
# Override this to set custom field formatting for your
# user model.
LDAP_AUTH_CLEAN_USER_DATA = django_python3_ldap.utils.clean_user_data

How it works

When a user attempts to authenticate, a connection is made to the LDAP server, and the application attempts to bind using the provided username and password.

If the bind attempt is successful, the user details are loaded from the LDAP server and saved in a local Django User model. The local model is only created once, and the details will be kept updated with the LDAP record details on every login.

To perform a full sync of all LDAP users to the local database, run ./ ldap_sync_users. This is not required, as the authentication backend will create users on demand. Syncing users has the advantage of allowing you to assign permissions and groups to the existing users using the Django admin interface.

Running ldap_sync_users as a background cron task is another optional way to keep all users in sync on a regular basis.

Support and announcements


More information

The django-python3-ldap project was developed by Dave Hall. You can get the code from the django-python3-ldap project site.


Project details

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