Many common desktop email / groupware packages these days (Ximian Evolution, Mozilla Mail, Microsoft Outlook) have the ability to connect to a Remote LDAP server to retrieve a list of contacts. This is a great way to have a single address book available at multiple locations.

Setting up OpenLDAP for use as an Address Book

This describes how to setup OpenLDAP to use as a personal addressbook.

There is not a lot involved in setting up OpenLDAP to use as a personal addressbook, you basically

• Install OpenLDAP (refer to LDAPNotes)
• Configure your installation, set the base DN, rootdn, rootpw etc.
• Configure your mail client to access your LDAP tree.

I store all my contacts under the ou=People subtree, so the DN for my addressbook looks like

ou=People,dc=ldap,dc=my,dc=domain,dc=here

• Use the person !ObjectClass? for your contacts, seems to work as a basic start.

Notes about Ximian Evolution

Ximian Evolution assumes that you will not have write access to your LDAP address book unless you have authenticated with the LDAP server.