---
title: About the client connection policy
description: Understand how connection criteria and the evaluation order index determine which PingDirectoryProxy client connection policy applies to a client connection.
component: pingdirectory
version: 10.3
page_id: pingdirectory:pingdirectoryproxy_server_administration_guide:pd_proxy_client_connection_policy
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingdirectory/11.1/pingdirectoryproxy_server_administration_guide/pd_proxy_client_connection_policy.html
llms_txt: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingdirectory/llms.txt
docs_for_agents: https://developer.pingidentity.com/build-with-ai/docs-for-agents.md
revdate: 2024-07-05T00:00:00Z
superseded_by: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingdirectory/11.1/pingdirectoryproxy_server_administration_guide/pd_proxy_client_connection_policy.html
---

# About the client connection policy

Client connection policies are based on two factors.

* Connection criteria

  The connection criteria are used in many areas within the server. They are used by the client connection policies, but they can be used in other instances when the server needs to perform matching based on connection-level properties, such as filtered logging. A single connection can match multiple connection criteria definitions.

* Evaluation order index

  If multiple client connection policies are defined in the server, then each of them must have a unique value for the `evaluation-order-index` property. The client connection policies are evaluated in order of ascending evaluation order index. If a client connection does not match the criteria for any defined client connection policy, then that connection will be terminated.

  If the connection policy matches a connection, then the connection is assigned to that policy and no further evaluation occurs. If, after evaluating all of the defined client connection policies, no match is found, the connection is terminated.