The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) offers a REST API-style method to authenticate users. In Artifactory, this means that every time a user uses their LDAP credentials, the application will check the LDAP server for authentication. This is useful because it allows for dynamic group synchronization. For example, if a user changes LDAP groups, Artifactory will automatically update its group list to reflect that change. More information on LDAP group synchronization and mapping is available HERE.