LDAP File Locations

 The file locations for OpenLdap are important to find and understand as it can be confusing if you are not sure what config file is making changes to your LDAP settings. One of the major keys to having success with OpenLDAP is to verify the existence and location of the files you need to work with.  The example below separates the files based on whether your machine is a server or a client for LDAP.  Yes, it can be both server and client and then will need all of the files.

Lesson 1 / Lesson 3

Sever Configuration Files
When you install OpenLDAP, you will find a directory is created called /etc/openldap.  This directory will contain the necessary files for the configuration of your LDAP server.  The main file for configuring the server is slapd.conf.

/etc/openldap/slapd.conf
This is the configuration file for the server.

/etc/openldap/schema
Contains LDAP definitions and can be added to the slapd.conf file with:

include /etc/openldap/schema/some_schema
There is a specific redhat directory which is included in Red Hat or CentOS versions.
README        cosine.schema         java.schema  openldap.schema
corba.schema  dyngroup.schema       misc.schema  redhat
core.schema   inetorgperson.schema  nis.schema

The slapd.conf file configures which schemas will be used.  Here is a listing of the default schemas.

include         /etc/openldap/schema/core.schema
include         /etc/openldap/schema/cosine.schema
include         /etc/openldap/schema/inetorgperson.schema
include         /etc/openldap/schema/nis.schema

/var/lib/ldap
It is important that this directory be owned by ldap as this is where the database files will be located.

Client Configuration Files

/etc/ldap.conf
If the nss_ldap package is installed, which it will be, it creates this file used by the PAM and NSS modules.  This can easily be confused with the /etc/openldap file of the same name.
 

 /etc/openldap/ldap.conf  
This is the configuration file for the client applications.   This file will be the primary file for setting up the client to connect to your LDAP server.