# Setting up Derby to use your LDAP directory service

When specifying LDAP as your authentication service, you must specify what LDAP server to use.

To connect to the ApacheDS LDAP server, add the following lines to your Derby configuration file, `derby.properties`. You may also want to store these properties in your database and lock them down by setting the `derby.database.propertiesOnly` property (see Configuring coarse-grained user authorization for an example of how to lock down database properties):

      derby.connection.requireAuthentication=true
      derby.authentication.server=ldaps://127.0.0.1:10389
      derby.authentication.provider=LDAP
      derby.authentication.ldap.searchAuthPW=YOUR_SELECTED_PASSWORD
      derby.authentication.ldap.searchAuthDN=cn=Directory Manager
      derby.authentication.ldap.searchBase=o=sevenseas
      derby.authentication.ldap.searchFilter=objectClass=person

Finally, start `ij` in the directory where you created your `derby.properties` (this ensures that embedded Derby will come up with the authentication settings listed above). Run the following commands:

      java org.apache.derby.tools.ij
      ij version 10.16
      ij> connect 'jdbc:derby:testdb;create=true;user=cbuckley;password=secret';
      ij> quit;

Verify that authentication works by trying to connect again, this time with bad credentials:

      java org.apache.derby.tools.ij
      ij version 10.16
      ij> connect 'jdbc:derby:testdb;create=true;user=cbuckley;password=badpassword';
      ERROR 08004: Connection authentication failure occurred. Reason: Invalid authentication...
      ij> quit;

When you set the property `derby.authentication.server`, you can specify the LDAP server using just the server name, the server name and its port number separated by a colon, or an `ldap` URL as shown in the example. If you do not provide a full URL, Derby will by default use unencrypted LDAP. For details on the `derby.authentication.server` and `derby.authentication.provider` properties, see the Derby Reference Manual.

Parent topic: Configuring LDAP authentication
Related concepts
Booting an LDAP server
Guest access to search for DNs
LDAP performance issues
LDAP restrictions
JNDI-specific properties for external directory services