Red Hat Summit Red Hat SummitSupportConsoleDevelopersStart a trialContact

13.3. Creating New Indexes to Existing Databases

Learn how to initiate indexing operations on Directory Server. You must create indexes manually because Directory Server does not automatically index databases.

Important

Before you regenerate the index, searches proceed but can return incorrect or inconsistent results.
To recreate the index of a database while the instance is running: 
# dsconf -D "cn=Directory Manager" ldap://server.example.com backend index reindex database_name

13.3.1.2. Creating an Index Using a cn=tasks Entry
Copy link

The cn=tasks,cn=config entry in the Directory Server configuration is a container entry for temporary entries the server uses to manage tasks. To initiate an index operation, create a task in the cn=index,cn=tasks,cn=config entry.
Use the ldapadd utility to add a new index task. For example, to add a task that creates the presence index for the cn attribute in the userRoot database: 
# ldapadd -D "cn=Directory Manager" -W -p 389 -h server.example.com -x

dn: cn=example_presence_index,cn=index,cn=tasks,cn=config
objectclass: top
objectclass: extensibleObject
cn: example presence index
nsInstance: userRoot
nsIndexAttribute: "cn:pres"
When the task is completed, the entry is removed from the directory configuration.
For further details, about the cn=index,cn=tasks,cn=config entry, see the cn=index section in the Red Hat Directory Server Configuration, Command, and File Reference.
After creating an indexing entry or adding additional index types to an existing indexing entry, use the dsconf db2index command:
  1. Shut down the instance: 
    # dsctl instance_name stop
  2. Recreate the index:
    1. For all indexes in the database, run: 
      # dsctl instance_name db2index userRoot
[13/Aug/2019:15:25:37.277426483 +0200] - INFO - ldbm_instance_config_cachememsize_set - force a minimal value 512000
[13/Aug/2019:15:25:37.289257996 +0200] - INFO - check_and_set_import_cache - pagesize: 4096, available bytes 1704378368, process usage 22212608 
[13/Aug/2019:15:25:37.291738104 +0200] - INFO - check_and_set_import_cache - Import allocates 665772KB import cache.
...
db2index successful
    2. For specific attribute indexes, run: 
      # dsctl instance_name db2index userRoot --attr aci cn givenname
      The following command recreates indexes for aci, cn, and givenname attributes. Note that if no database is specified, the command recreates indexes for all attributes.
  3. Start the instance: 
    # dsctl instance_name start
Red Hat logoGithubredditYoutubeTwitter

Learn

Try, buy, & sell

Communities

About Red Hat Documentation

We help Red Hat users innovate and achieve their goals with our products and services with content they can trust. Explore our recent updates.

Making open source more inclusive

Red Hat is committed to replacing problematic language in our code, documentation, and web properties. For more details, see the Red Hat Blog.

About Red Hat

We deliver hardened solutions that make it easier for enterprises to work across platforms and environments, from the core datacenter to the network edge.

Theme

© 2026 Red HatBack to top