Students, faculty, staff, and affiliates of the University of Maryland are assigned a University ID (UID) account that includes a Directory ID and passphrase upon entering the university. These accounts are then assigned to the People branch of the university's LDAP Directory, where they remain while a student, faculty, staff member, or affiliate is an active member of the university community. Once a student, faculty, staff, or affiliate leaves the university, their Directory ID is assigned to either the Extended Services or Inactive Directory branches. Below is a brief guide to the LDAP Directory and its three branches:
The LDAP Directory is a directory service that houses account information for active and inactive members of the university community, including current and past students, faculty, staff, and affiliates. The information stored in this service is used to access on and off campus services and technology. Account information is stored in one of three branches within the LDAP Directory:
People: account information for current, active students, faculty, staff, and affiliates is stored in this branch of the Active Directory. Accounts stored in this branch are considered active, and account holders retain access to on and off campus services and technology based on their classification as student, faculty, staff, or affiliate.
Admitted student accounts remain in the People branch until the registration deadline for a semester. After the registration deadline, students who have not registered for classes can no longer remain in the People branch. These accounts may be deleted or moved to the Extended-service or Inactive branches depending on the student's registration status, as described below:
Students who have activated their Directory ID but do not have one of the above statuses will be moved to Inactive branch.
Extended-service: account information for inactive students is stored in this branch of the directory. Accounts for student who have completed at least one class at the university may be assigned to this branch after graduation or failing to register for multiple successive semesters. Students whose accounts have been moved to the Extended-service branch may access some services, such as Testudo. Accounts that have been moved to this branch are not purged from the directory.
Inactive: account information for inactive faculty, staff, and affiliate members of the university community who have separated from the university and have not completed any coursework at the University of Maryland is stored in this branch of the directory. The account information stored in this service is inactive and may not be used to access on and off campus technology and services. Accounts for faculty, staff, and affiliates that have been moved to this directory are purged after one year.
If you have a question or concern about your access to campus technology and services, contact the following offices:
Students: Registrar's Office at registrar-help@umd.edu.
Faculty, staff, and affiliates: University Human Resources at contactuhr@umd.edu.