Overview#

Basic Encoding Rules (BER) are a set of ASN.1 x.690 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.

BER and LDAP#

The following are the BER types in the universal class that you’re likely to encounter in LDAP:

ber_peek-tag#

ber_peek-tag is a collection of routines provide a subroutine interface to a simplified implementation of the Basic Encoding Rules of ASN.1. The version of BER these routines support is the one defined for the LDAP protocol. The encoding rules are the same as BER, except that only definite form lengths are used, and bitstrings and OctetStrings are always encoded in primitive form.

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
• Microsoft Active Directory Syntax
• Packed Encoding Rules
• String Representation of Distinguished Names
• X.690

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• [#1] - Basic Encoding Rules - based on information obtained 2015-09-18
• [#2] - ber_peek_tag function (winber.h) - based on information obtained 2020-10-18
• [#3] - ber_peek_tag(3) - based on information obtained 2020-10-18
• [#4] - The ASN.1 Basic Encoding Rules - based on information obtained 2020-10-18