Python and LDAP authentication

Authenticating to LDAP from Python using python-ldap often fails on authentication. It took me awhile to realize that using bind_s the first parameter is often not just the username but the whole ldap path to the user.

user = 'CN=surname name,OU=UsrAccounts,DC=company-intranet,DC=net'
pw = '***'

uri = 'ldap://server.company-intranet.net:389'

lc = ldap.initialize(uri, trace_level=0)
lc.set_option(ldap.OPT_REFERRALS, 0)
lc.set_option(ldap.OPT_PROTOCOL_VERSION, 3)
lc.bind_s(user, pw)