Configuration File (DS CONF) Format and Configuration Options

The DS CONF file consists of the following sections:

Global section
Contains configuration options that apply to the LDAP server as a whole (including all backends).
SDBM backend-specific section
Contains configuration options that apply to the SDBM backend.
LDBM backend-specific section
Contains configuration options that apply to the LDBM backend. It is possible to have one or more of these sections depending on how many LDBM backends your installation uses.
GDBM backend-specific section
Contains configuration options that apply to the GDBM change log backend.
CDBM backend-specific section
Contains configuration options that apply to the file-based CDBM backend.

Figure 1 shows the general format of DS CONF.

Figure 1. General format of DS CONF
# Global options - these options apply to every database       
<global configuration options>                                 
#                                                              
# SDBM database definition and configuration options           
database SDBM GLDBSD31                                         
<configuration options specific to SDBM backend>               
#                                                              
# LDBM database definition and configuration options           
database LDBM GLDBLD31                                         
<configuration options specific to LDBM backend>               
#                                                              
# File-based GDBM database definition and configuration options
database GDBM GLDBGD31                                         
<configuration options specific to file-based GDBM backend>    
#                                                              
# CDBM database definition and configuration options           
database CDBM GLDBCD31                                         
<configuration options specific to CDBM backend>

Noted below are some rules for setting up DS CONF:

  • The configuration file contains a global section containing options that apply to the entire LDAP server, followed by one or more database backend sections that contain options that apply to a specific backend. Each backend section begins with a database option and continues to the next database option. The global section starts at the beginning of the configuration file and ends at the first database option. The sizelimit and timelimit options can be either global or specific to a backend: they are global if they appear in the global section and are specific to a backend if they appear in a backend section. See the descriptions of these options for more information.
  • The configuration file must be in code page IBM-1047.
  • The maximum length of a line in the configuration file is 1024 characters.
  • Each configuration line consists of an option and a value separated by one or more blanks. Begin each configuration option in column one. The option is not case-sensitive. The value might or might not be case-sensitive depending upon the option. If an argument contains one or more blank spaces, the value should be enclosed in double quotation marks (for example, "value one"). If a value contains a double quotation mark or a backslash character (\), the double quotation mark or backslash character should be preceded by a backslash character (\).
  • A line that begins with a space or tab character in column one is considered a continuation of the previous line. Everything after the space or tab character is appended to the previous line. The maximum length of the initial line plus all continuation lines is 1024 characters.
  • A line that begins with a pound sign (#) in column one is a comment line. Comment lines can be continued and are ignored.
  • A pound sign (#) can be used to add a comment to the end of a configuration line. The pound sign (#) must be separated from the option value by at least one blank. Anything following the pound sign (#) will be ignored, including any continuation lines. A pound sign (#) will not be treated as the start of a comment if it occurs within a quoted value.
  • Blank lines can be used to separate configuration lines.
  • Options that expect a value of on or off will also accept yes, y, no and n. The option value is not case-sensitive.
  • For single-valued options that appear more than once, the last appearance in the DS CONF file is used.