Configuration File of the OpenLDAP Server

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The configuration file of the LDAP server daemon is named by default slapd.conf. You can also use a different file. All you have to do is to start the OpenLDAP server daemon with the "-f <filename" parameter. This file is used to configure the stand-alone LDAP daemon, called "slapd," and the stand-alone LDAP update replication daemon, called "slurpd." For more information about slurpd, see Appendix F, which discusses how to configure replication with OpenLDAP. The slapd configuration file is discussed in the OpenLDAP "Administrator's Guide," which is delivered with the OpenLDAP source code distribution.

The format of the configuration file is very easy to understand:

• Blank lines are ignored.

• Lines beginning with "#" are comments.

• A white space at the beginning of a line is considered a continuation of the previous line; therefore, special characters to code line continuation such as "\" are not needed.

As explained in the "Administrator's Guide," one can break down the configuration file of the slapd daemon in various sections. Following is a schema of the OpenLDAP directory server configuration file:

 # global configuration directives <global config directives> # backend and database directives # backend definition backend <typeA> <backend-specific directives> # first database definition & config directives database <typeA> <database-specific directives> # second database definition & config directives database <typeB> <database-specific directives> # third database definition & config directives database <typeA> <database-specific directives> # subsequent backend & database definitions & config directives 

As you can see, the configuration file contains one section with global directives that configure the whole directory server. Following this global section are sections for back-end and database definitions. We will discuss these features.

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