Modifying the dse.ldif File

Directory Server stores all of its configuration information in this file:

instance-path/config/dse.ldif

Modifying the configuration by editing the contents of the dse.ldif file directly is prone to error and is not recommended. However, if you choose to edit this file manually, stop the server before you edit the file and restart it after you have finished editing.

The dse.ldif file is in the LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF). LDIF is a textual representation of entries, attributes, and their values, and is a standard format described in RFC 2849 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2849).

The Directory Server configuration in the dse.ldif file consists of the following:

• The attributes and values of the cn=config entry.

• All of the entries in the subtree below cn=config and their attributes and values.

• The object classes and access control instructions of the root entry ("") and the cn=monitor entry. The other attributes of these entries are generated by the server.

  Only the system user who owns the Directory Server instance has the rights to read and write the file.

  Directory Server makes all configuration settings readable and writable through LDAP. By default, the cn=config branch of the directory can be read by anyone with authorization and can be written to only by the Directory Manager (cn=Directory Manager) and to the administrative users under cn=Administrators,cn=config. The administration user can view and modify the configuration entries just like any other directory entry.

  Do not create non-configuration entries under the cn=config entry because they will be stored in the dse.ldif file, which is not the same highly scalable database as regular entries. As a result, if many entries, and particularly entries that are likely to be updated frequently, are stored under cn=config, performance will likely be degraded. However, it can be useful to store special user entries such as the Replication Manager (supplier bind DN) entry under cn=config, to centralize configuration information.