• FreeRADIUS includes support for LDAP integration.
• To ensure maximum benefit of RADIUSdesk we will use a hybrid setup for LDAP integration.
• The next section will be used as a basic introduction to FreeRADIUS and LDAP

• We will install OpenLDAP and do a basic setup that can be used by FreeRADIUS.
• When you install OpenLDAP (slapd) the package installer will ask you to provide a password.
• Provide one but keep in mind that we will reconfigure everything after the install.

# Update repository lists
sudo apt update
 
# Install OpenLDAP and standard utility tools
sudo apt install -y slapd ldap-utils
 
# Install the FreeRADIUS LDAP module (rlm_ldap) 
sudo apt install -y freeradius-ldap

• After the slapd package installed we can run the following command to reconfigure slapd and provide a basic setup.

# Configure or reconfigure slapd defaults interactively
sudo dpkg-reconfigure slapd

• Omit OpenLDAP server configuration? No.
• DNS domain name: Enter your domain (e.g., radiusdesk.com creating dc=radiusdesk,dc=com).
• Organization name: Enter your organization name (We specified radiusdesk).
• Administrator password: We used a simple password since we're testing.
• After you answered these questions slapd should be reconfigured with those items.

• You can confirm it by issuing the following command

sudo slapcat
dn: dc=radiusdesk,dc=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: dcObject
objectClass: organization
o: radiusdesk
dc: radiusdesk
structuralObjectClass: organization
entryUUID: 8c68dc16-1a3f-1041-9add-250d07e316fc
creatorsName: cn=admin,dc=radiusdesk,dc=com
createTimestamp: 20260722173600Z
entryCSN: 20260722173600.213629Z#000000#000#000000
modifiersName: cn=admin,dc=radiusdesk,dc=com
modifyTimestamp: 20260722173600Z

• This confirms the basic setup of slapd.
• Next we will add an Organizational Unit (OU) under which we can add our users. (Remember LDAP is a directory/hierarchy)

• Create a file named ou.ldif to set up a dedicated container for your network accounts.

ou.ldif

dn: ou=people,dc=radiusdesk,dc=com
objectClass: organizationalUnit
ou: people

• Apply this file to your OpenLDAP directory:

ldapadd -x -D "cn=admin,dc=radiusdesk,dc=com" -W -f ou.ldif

• Create a file named user.ldif.
• This template creates a user named testuser with the password mysecretpassword.

user.ldif

dn: uid=testuser,ou=people,dc=radiusdesk,dc=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: account
objectClass: simpleSecurityObject
uid: testuser
userPassword: mysecretpassword
description: RADIUS Test User

• Apply this file to your OpenLDAP directory:

ldapadd -x -D "cn=admin,dc=radiusdesk,dc=com" -W -f user.ldif

• If you run slapcat again these items should be in the reply.

sudo slapcat
dn: dc=radiusdesk,dc=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: dcObject
objectClass: organization
o: radiusdesk
dc: radiusdesk
structuralObjectClass: organization
entryUUID: 8c68dc16-1a3f-1041-9add-250d07e316fc
creatorsName: cn=admin,dc=radiusdesk,dc=com
createTimestamp: 20260722173600Z
entryCSN: 20260722173600.213629Z#000000#000#000000
modifiersName: cn=admin,dc=radiusdesk,dc=com
modifyTimestamp: 20260722173600Z
 
dn: ou=people,dc=radiusdesk,dc=com
objectClass: organizationalUnit
ou: people
structuralObjectClass: organizationalUnit
entryUUID: a6c420c6-1a48-1041-895a-41f787ad35f7
creatorsName: cn=admin,dc=radiusdesk,dc=com
createTimestamp: 20260722184109Z
entryCSN: 20260722184109.903088Z#000000#000#000000
modifiersName: cn=admin,dc=radiusdesk,dc=com
modifyTimestamp: 20260722184109Z
 
dn: uid=testuser,ou=people,dc=radiusdesk,dc=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: account
objectClass: simpleSecurityObject
uid: testuser
userPassword:: bXlzZWNyZXRwYXNzd29yZA==
description: RADIUS Test User
structuralObjectClass: account
entryUUID: f0928490-1a48-1041-895b-41f787ad35f7
creatorsName: cn=admin,dc=radiusdesk,dc=com
createTimestamp: 20260722184313Z
entryCSN: 20260722184313.729405Z#000000#000#000000
modifiersName: cn=admin,dc=radiusdesk,dc=com
modifyTimestamp: 20260722184313Z