diff --git a/phpgwapi/inc/class.auth_ldap.inc.php b/phpgwapi/inc/class.auth_ldap.inc.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2fcfc66a75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/phpgwapi/inc/class.auth_ldap.inc.php
@@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * eGroupWare API - LDAP Authentication
+ *
+ * @link http://www.egroupware.org
+ * @author Ralf Becker <ralfbecker@outdoor-training.de>
+ * @author Lars Kneschke <lkneschke@linux-at-work.de>
+ * @author Joseph Engo <jengo@phpgroupware.org>
+ * Copyright (C) 2000, 2001 Joseph Engo
+ * Copyright (C) 2002, 2003 Lars Kneschke
+ * @license http://opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-license.php LGPL - GNU Lesser General Public License
+ * @package api
+ * @subpackage authentication
+ * @version $Id$
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Authentication agains a LDAP Server
+ */
+class auth_ldap implements auth_backend
+{
+	var $previous_login = -1;
+
+	/**
+	 * authentication against LDAP
+	 *
+	 * @param string $username username of account to authenticate
+	 * @param string $passwd corresponding password
+	 * @return boolean true if successful authenticated, false otherwise
+	 */
+	function authenticate($username, $passwd, $passwd_type='text')
+	{
+		// allow non-ascii in username & password
+		$username = translation::convert($username,translation::charset(),'utf-8');
+		$passwd = translation::convert($passwd,translation::charset(),'utf-8');
+
+		if(!$ldap = common::ldapConnect())
+		{
+			$GLOBALS['egw']->log->message('F-Abort, Failed connecting to LDAP server for authenication, execution stopped');
+			$GLOBALS['egw']->log->commit();
+			return False;
+		}
+
+		/* Login with the LDAP Admin. User to find the User DN.  */
+		if(!@ldap_bind($ldap, $GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['ldap_root_dn'], $GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['ldap_root_pw']))
+		{
+			return False;
+		}
+		/* find the dn for this uid, the uid is not always in the dn */
+		$attributes	= array('uid','dn','givenName','sn','mail','uidNumber','shadowExpire');
+
+		$filter = $GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['ldap_search_filter'] ? $GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['ldap_search_filter'] : '(uid=%user)';
+		$filter = str_replace(array('%user','%domain'),array(ldap::quote($username),$GLOBALS['egw_info']['user']['domain']),$filter);
+
+		if ($GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['account_repository'] == 'ldap')
+		{
+			$filter = "(&$filter(objectclass=posixaccount))";
+		}
+		$sri = ldap_search($ldap, $GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['ldap_context'], $filter, $attributes);
+		$allValues = ldap_get_entries($ldap, $sri);
+
+		if ($allValues['count'] > 0)
+		{
+			if ($GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['case_sensitive_username'] == true &&
+				$allValues[0]['uid'][0] != $username)
+			{
+				return false;
+			}
+			if ($GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['account_repository'] == 'ldap' &&
+				isset($allValues[0]['shadowexpire']) && $allValues[0]['shadowexpire'][0]*24*3600 < time())
+			{
+				return false;	// account is expired
+			}
+			$userDN = $allValues[0]['dn'];
+
+			// try to bind as the user with user suplied password
+			// only if a non-empty password given, in case anonymous search is enabled
+			if (!empty($passwd) && @ldap_bind($ldap, $userDN, $passwd))
+			{
+				if ($GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['account_repository'] != 'ldap')
+				{
+					if ($GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['auto_create_acct'])
+					{
+						// create a global array with all availible info about that account
+						$GLOBALS['auto_create_acct'] = array();
+						foreach(array(
+							'givenname' => 'firstname',
+							'sn'        => 'lastname',
+							'uidnumber' => 'account_id',
+							'mail'      => 'email',
+						) as $ldap_name => $acct_name)
+						{
+							$GLOBALS['auto_create_acct'][$acct_name] =
+								translation::convert($allValues[0][$ldap_name][0],'utf-8');
+						}
+						return True;
+					}
+					return ($id = $GLOBALS['egw']->accounts->name2id($username,'account_lid','u')) &&
+						$GLOBALS['egw']->accounts->id2name($id,'account_status') == 'A';
+				}
+				return True;
+			}
+		}
+		// dn not found or password wrong
+		return False;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * changes password in LDAP
+	 *
+	 * If $old_passwd is given, the password change is done binded as user and NOT with the
+	 * "root" dn given in the configurations.
+	 *
+	 * @param string $old_passwd must be cleartext or empty to not to be checked
+	 * @param string $new_passwd must be cleartext
+	 * @param int $account_id account id of user whose passwd should be changed
+	 * @return boolean true if password successful changed, false otherwise
+	 */
+	function change_password($old_passwd, $new_passwd, $account_id=0)
+	{
+		if (!$account_id)
+		{
+			$username = $GLOBALS['egw_info']['user']['account_lid'];
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			$username = translation::convert($GLOBALS['egw']->accounts->id2name($account_id),
+				translation::charset(),'utf-8');
+		}
+		//echo "<p>auth_ldap::change_password('$old_passwd','$new_passwd',$account_id) username='$username'</p>\n";
+
+		$filter = $GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['ldap_search_filter'] ? $GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['ldap_search_filter'] : '(uid=%user)';
+		$filter = str_replace(array('%user','%domain'),array($username,$GLOBALS['egw_info']['user']['domain']),$filter);
+
+		$ds = common::ldapConnect();
+		$sri = ldap_search($ds, $GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['ldap_context'], $filter);
+		$allValues = ldap_get_entries($ds, $sri);
+
+		$entry['userpassword'] = auth::encrypt_password($new_passwd);
+		$entry['shadowLastChange'] = round((time()-date('Z')) / (24*3600));
+
+		$dn = $allValues[0]['dn'];
+
+		if($old_passwd)	// if old password given (not called by admin) --> bind as that user to change the pw
+		{
+			$ds = common::ldapConnect('',$dn,$old_passwd);
+		}
+		if (!@ldap_modify($ds, $dn, $entry))
+		{
+			return false;
+		}
+		if($old_passwd)	// if old password given (not called by admin) update the password in the session
+		{
+			$GLOBALS['egw']->session->appsession('password','phpgwapi',$new_passwd);
+		}
+		return $entry['userpassword'];
+	}
+}