You can use Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) to access X.500-based directory services. LDAP defines a method to access and update information in a directory. A directory server is a specialized database that stores typed and ordered information about objects. You can use directories to find resources with the characteristics required for a particular task. For example, a directory can list information about printers, such as the location, speed in pages for each minute, and supported print streams.