Browsing Index

Browsing indexes are also called virtual list view indexes. Browsing indexes are used for search operations that request server-side sorting or virtual list view, VLV, results. By using browsing indexes, you can improve the performance of searches that request server-side sorting of a large number of results. Depending on your directory configuration, the server may refuse to perform searches that request sorting when no browsing index is defined. This prevents large sorting operations from overloading server resources.

Browsing indexes are configured with the following parameters in the vlvSearch(5dsoc) object class, vlvBase(5dsat), vlvScope(5dsat), and vlvFilter(5dsat). Browsing index are sorted by the following parameter in the vlvIndex(5dsoc) object class, vlvSort(5dsat).

Browsing indexes are configured in two steps.

1. The base of the search, the scope of the search, and a filter for the search are configured by the vlvBase, vlvScope, and vlvFilter attributes in the vlvSearch object class.

2. The name of the attributes that sort the index are configured by the vlvSort attribute in the vlvIndex object class.

The following figure shows a browsing index.

Figure 6–4 Representation of a Browsing Index

When Directory Server receives a request to update an entry with a vlvFilter value, it must do the following tasks before performing the update and acknowledging the update to the client:

• Determine whether the entry must be removed from the index

• Determine the correct position of the entry in the list