Python-ldap not able to bind successfully
Question: I am not having any luck finding answers on this, so here it goes.

When I attemtp to connect to an AD server using python-ldap, it appears to
work successfully for some functions, and not for others. My connection:

    
    
    >>>import sys
    >>>import ldap
    
    >>>l = ldap.initialize("ldap://company.com:389")
    >>>l.set_option(ldap.OPT_PROTOCOL_VERSION, 3)
    >>>l.simple_bind_s("user@company.com","password")
    (97, [], 1, [])
    

Some simple google searching indicated that the 97 meant success, although the
level of success is a bit wonky. But, for some reason, I cant find anything on
the status code 1. If I run some ldap functions on the connection, some of
them work and some do not.

    
    
    >>>l.whoami_s()
    'u:COMPANY.COM\\user'
    

Seems to return fine, but

    
    
    >>> base_dn = 'dc=company,dc=com'
    >>> retrieveAttributes = ["uniquemember"]
    >>> searchFilter = "cn=user"
    >>> l.search_s(base_dn, ldap.SCOPE_SUBTREE,searchFilter,retrieveAttributes)
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "<console>", line 1, in <module>
      File "/home/user/.envs/scoring/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ldap/ldapobject.py", line 552, in search_s
        return self.search_ext_s(base,scope,filterstr,attrlist,attrsonly,None,None,timeout=self.timeout)
      File "/home/user/.envs/scoring/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ldap/ldapobject.py", line 546, in search_ext_s
        return self.result(msgid,all=1,timeout=timeout)[1]
      File "/home/user/.envs/scoring/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ldap/ldapobject.py", line 458, in result
        resp_type, resp_data, resp_msgid = self.result2(msgid,all,timeout)
      File "/home/user/.envs/scoring/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ldap/ldapobject.py", line 462, in result2
        resp_type, resp_data, resp_msgid, resp_ctrls = self.result3(msgid,all,timeout)
      File "/home/user/.envs/scoring/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ldap/ldapobject.py", line 469, in result3
        resp_ctrl_classes=resp_ctrl_classes
      File "/home/user/.envs/scoring/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ldap/ldapobject.py", line 476, in result4
        ldap_result = self._ldap_call(self._l.result4,msgid,all,timeout,add_ctrls,add_intermediates,add_extop)
      File "/home/user/.envs/scoring/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ldap/ldapobject.py", line 99, in _ldap_call
        result = func(*args,**kwargs)
    OPERATIONS_ERROR: {'info': '000004DC: LdapErr: DSID-0C0906E8, comment: In order to perform this operation a successful bind must be completed on the connection., data 0, v1db1', 'desc': 'Operations error'}
    

I am stumped to why the whoami would work but the search would not. I am using
a domain admin for the user, so it shouldn't have anything to do with
permissions to the directory. Can anyone shed some light?


Answer: I was getting the exact same error as you, what I did was adding this line (as
suggested by Christopher), l.set_option(ldap.OPT_REFERRALS, 0) before doing
the binding, e.g.

    
    
    conn.protocol_version = ldap.VERSION3
    conn.set_option(ldap.OPT_REFERRALS, 0)
    conn.simple_bind_s(user, pw)
    

And after that my connection to LDAP worked fine.

