When/why use slappasswd or any password digests

[Thomas Gagné <tgagne@wideopenwest.com>]

I'm trying to understand the role encrypted passwords play in OpenLDAP.  
I thought they were an alternative way to exchange passwords.  Instead 
of sending them in the clear during ldap_bind_s() I thought I could 
supply one of the HASHs--but this doesn't seem to work.

To use SSHA encryption am I supposed to first create an SSHA digest of 
my password to use in ldap_passwd_s()?

I've tried changing the password to something I got from slappasswd then 
signing back in using the same password but a different digest (as SSHA 
is supposed to do) but I get Invalid Credentials.

Are the digests something used strictly for storing the passwords?  Is 
there any way/reason to use the digests?

--
.tom
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