Which LDAP object class is used in a white pages implementation?

Devraj B.Mar 13, 2026

D is your answer, inetOrgPerson, because that object class was specifically defined in RFC 2798 to carry the rich set of person attributes, think email, phone, title, and photo, that a white pages directory needs to be useful. The others fall short: posixAccount is for Unix login data, organizationalRole describes a job function rather than a person, friendlyPerson is a minor auxiliary class, and whitepageUser simply does not exist in any standard schema.

Mateus R.Mar 18, 2026

inetOrgPerson is your answer, and here is the reason it makes sense: think of a white pages directory like a company phone book, it needs slots for a person's name, email, phone number, and department all in one record, and inetOrgPerson is exactly the LDAP object class designed to hold that full set of real-world contact attributes for internet-facing organizations. The other options cover narrower roles, posixAccount is for Unix login info and organizationalRole is more like a job title placeholder, neither one gives you the rich personal contact profile that white pages implementations are built around.

Imani T.Feb 17, 2026

inetOrgPerson is the one you want here, and it makes sense once you understand what a white pages directory actually is, which is basically a people-lookup service like a digital phone book where you store name, email, phone, title, and photo for end users. The other options trip people up because posixAccount is for Unix login attributes, organizationalRole is for job positions not actual people, and friendlyPerson plus whitepageUser are either obscure or made up entirely. inetOrgPerson extends person and organizationalPerson to add all those contact fields that real-world white pages directories need. Genuine question for anyone who has dug deeper into this, do you actually need to declare inetOrgPerson as the structural class, or can you get away with using it as an auxiliary on top of another structural class in a real OpenLDAP setup? I have seen implementations do it both ways and I want to make sure I have the schema mechanics straight before the exam.

Toby R.Feb 26, 2026

inetOrgPerson is the one you want here, it covers the standard attributes you need for a person entry in a directory like email, phone, name, all the stuff a white pages lookup would return. Did you see questions that tried to trick you with posixAccount, because on my exam they leaned hard on knowing that posixAccount is really for Unix login info rather than contact/identity data?