Overview#

The Basic Encoding Rules (BER) are a set of ASN.1 encoding rules that define a specific way in which information may be encoded in a binary form. It is used as the underlying mechanism for encoding LDAP Message.

See http://blogs.sun.com/DirectoryManager/entry/a_quick_introduction_to_asn for a document that provides an introduction to BER encoding. Also see http://www.oss.com/asn1/larmouth.html for a PDF version of the "ASN.1 Complete" book by Professor John Larmouth, which is an excellent reference on ASN.1 and a number of its encoding rules, including BER.

More Information#

There might be more information for this subject on one of the following:

• Abstract Syntax Notation One
• BER
• Canonical Encoding Rules
• DSML
• Distinguished Encoding Rules
• Draft-behera-ldap-password-policy
• Glossary Of LDAP And Directory Terminology
• LDAP
• LDAP Message
• LDAP Search Filters Using with non-standard Characters
• Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
• Packed Encoding Rules
• String Representation of Distinguished Names
• X.690