Red Hat Directory Server

The 389 Directory Server (previously Fedora Directory Server) is an LDAP () server developed by Red Hat, as part of Red Hat's community-supported Fedora Project. The name "389" derives from the port number used by LDAP. Red Hat offers a version of 389 called Red Hat Directory Server via an extra subscription on top of RHEL. Red Hat Directory Server differs from 389 in that the former is rebranded with the Red Hat branding, and includes certified stable builds, customer service, and technical support. Red Hat will rebase the Red Hat version with a stable upstream 389 branch from time to time, and backport new features and critical bug fixes as necessary. The goal of the 389 Project is to get new features out quickly, whereas the goal of Red Hat Directory Server is to ensure stability and reliability. The 389 source code is generally available under the GPLv2 license. Some components have an exception for plugin code, while other components use LGPLv2 or Apache. The same applies to Red Hat Directory Server.

Though built on top of Fedora, 389 Directory Server supports many operating systems, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and later, Debian, Solaris 8 and later, and HP-UX 11i.

389 Directory Server is the newest incarnation of what was once the original University of Michigan slapd project. In 1996, the project's developers were hired by Netscape Communications Corporation and the project became known as the Netscape Directory Server (NDS). After acquiring Netscape, AOL sold ownership of the NDS intellectual property to Sun Microsystems, but retained rights akin to ownership. Sun sold and developed the Netscape Directory Server under the name JES/SunOne Directory Server, now Oracle Directory Server since the takeover of Sun by Oracle. AOL/Netscape's rights were acquired by Red Hat, and on June 1, 2005, much of the source code was released as free software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).