Patent ID: 7577132

Claim:
A method comprising: exposing a user interface suitable for receiving inputs from a user that specify whether execution of a particular lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) action is permitted, wherein the exposing of the user interface includes a plurality of descriptions that are selectable by a user; configuring a policy, based on the inputs, for managing lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) traffic on a network; intercepting a request communicated from a client to a server, wherein the request indicates an LDAP action; applying the policy to the LDAP action in order to determine whether the LDAP action is permitted, wherein the policy is selected from one or more available policies; and in an event the LDAP action is permitted: determining if another policy of the one or more policies is available and applying the other policy to the LDAP action if it is available; continuing to determine if another policy of the one or more policies is available and applying the other policy to the LDAP action if it is available until there are no more policies available; and communicating the request for performance of the LDAP action; in an event the LDAP action is not permitted: modifying the request to specify a modified LDAP action; selecting at least one of the one or more policies; applying the at least one of the one or more policies to the modified LDAP action; determining if another policy of the one or more policies is available and applying the other policy to the modified LDAP action if it is available; and continuing to determine if another policy of the one or more policies is available and applying the other policy to the modified LDAP action if it is available until there are no more policies available; and communicating the request for performance of the modified LDAP action.