Overview of indexes

The PingDirectory server uses indexes to improve database search performance and provide consistent search rates regardless of the number of database objects stored in the directory information tree (DIT).

Indexes are associated with attributes and stored in database index files, which are managed separately for each base distinguished name (DN) in the PingDirectory server. The PingDirectory server automatically creates index files when you initialize a base DN or run the dsconfig tool to create a local DB backend. During modify operations, the PingDirectory server updates the database index files.

If you enable encryption on the server, indexes will be encrypted.

The PingDirectory server comes with the following types of indexes:

Default system indexes: Ensures that the server operates efficiently. Indexes consist of database files that contain index keys mapping to the list of entry IDs.
Default Local DB indexes: Created for each database suffix. Modify the index to meet your system’s requirements using the dsconfig tool.
Local DB VLV indexes: Allows a client to request the server to send search results using the virtual list view (VLV) control.
Filtered Indexes: Provides the ability to index an attribute, but only for entries that match a specified filter based on an equality index. You can only use the filtered index for searches containing your specified filter. The filtered index can be maintained independently of the equality index for the attribute even if a normal equality index is not maintained for the attribute.