---
layout: docs
page_title: Auto-auth with LDAP
description: >-
  Use LDAP for auto-authentication with Vault Agent or Vault Proxy.
---

> [!IMPORTANT]  
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# Auto-auth method: LDAP

The `ldap` method reads in a password from a file and sends it to the [LDAP Auth
method](/vault/docs/auth/ldap).

## Configuration

- `password_file_path` `(string: required)` - The path to the password file

- `username` `(string: required)` - The username to authenticate against on Vault

- `remove_password_after_reading` `(bool: optional, defaults to true)` -
  This can be set to `false` to disable the default behavior of removing the
  password after it's been read.

- `remove_password_follows_symlinks` `(bool: optional, defaults to false)` -
This can be set to `true` to follow symlinks when removing the password after
it has been read when executing the `remove_password_after_reading` behaviour.
If set to false, it will delete the symlink, not the password file. Does
nothing if `remove_password_after_reading` is false.

- `password_read_period` `(duration: "0.5s", optional)` - The duration after which 
auto-auth will attempt to read the password stored at `password_file_path`.
Defaults to `1m` if `remove_password_after_reading` is set to `true`, or `0.5s`
otherwise. Uses [duration format
strings](/vault/docs/concepts/duration-format).
