require 'rubygems'

require 'net/ldap'

ldap = Net::LDAP.new
ldap.host = "ldap.example.com"

ldap.port = "389"

username = "human_interest_stories"
password = "obituary"

ldap.auth "uid=#{username},ou=users,dc=example,dc=com", password

is_authorized = ldap.bind # returns true if auth works, false otherwise (or throws error if it can't connect to the server)

#searching the LDAP from Damana (linked above too)

filter = Net::LDAP::Filter.eq( "uid", username )
#attrs = ["ou" , "objectClass"] # you can specify attributes
attrs = []

ldap.search( :base => "ou=users,dc=example,dc=com", :attributes => attrs, :filter => filter, :return_result => true ) do |entry|
    puts entry.dn
    entry.attribute_names.each do |n|
        puts "#{n} = #{entry[n]}"

    end
end