[Twisted-Python] ldaptor feedback

[Andrew Dalke]

Tommi Virtanen:
> 	Just about the only use for LDAP anywhere is to store
> 	users. It's cool. When you have thousands of them on
> 	different boxes, /etc/passwd gets boring. But still,
> 	it's only accounts. (The only real exception I know is
> 	certification revocation lists.)

There are a few projects in bioinformatics which make sequence
records available via LDAP

http://iubio.bio.indiana.edu/biogrid/biogrids.html
>  Directories of Bio-data for efficient, high volume, Grid distribution
>  of bio-data. This is based on LDAP for a computable, networked
>  search/retrieval of bio-objects (as opposed to flat file databanks
>  or web pages). This includes an experimental LDAP-SRS gateway for
>  query and retrieval of biosequence and genome data housed at IUBio
>  Archive (/srs/ and /eugenes/ data sections).

http://openbns.sourceforge.net/
>  The Biomolecule Naming Service (BNS) is an LDAP-based directory of
>  gene and protein information derived from NCBI's LocusLink database.
>  The main purpose of BNS is to quickly and easily convert between
>  different name and identifier schemes commonly used for specifying
>  gene and protein sequences.

TV:
> 	Think about it. LDAP isn't used to publish spam blacklists.

There's at least one posted idea for doing that at
   http://mla.libertine.org/tmda-workers/2001-11/msg00110.html
but it's only in the "wouldn't it be interesting if" stage.

But I know rather little about LDAP's uses.  Being googlesmart,
I did find
   http://www.networkmagazine.com/article/DCM20000502S0039
which describes where LDAP is/is not appropriate.  It says
 > LDAP isn't a replacement for relational databases (and never
 > will be). It's not a substitute for a file system. It wasn't
 > built to knock DNS (domain name server) out of the ring.

and elsewhere that it's not good for BLOBs, so while you said
it's not good for replacing a DB, DNS, etc., well, that's
already well-known, and not what it claims to be good for,
which is managing information about resources.

For me, I have about as much need for LDAP (right now) as I
do for ICQ; none.  Maybe next year for LDAP, when looking into
some of those sequence databases.

					Andrew
					dalke at dalkescientific.com