By default, Jira manages its users and groups internally. Most organizations today often use LDAP, such as Microsoft Active Directory (AD), for centralized user management, and you can integrate Jira with LDAP. Jira supports many different types of LDAP, including AD (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/get-started/virtual-dc/active-directory-domain-services-overview), OpenLDAP (https://www.openldap.org), and more.

There are two options for integrating Jira with LDAP. In this recipe, we will explore the first option by using an LDAP connector, which will periodically synchronize users, their details, and group memberships between Jira and LDAP. We will look at the second option in the next recipe, Integrating with LDAP for authentication only.