---
title: Criteria
description: The PingDirectory server provides a powerful criteria subsystem that allows it to match connections, requests, responses, entries, and references based on a wide variety of characteristics.
component: pingdirectory
version: 11.0
page_id: pingdirectory:pingdirectory_security_guide:pd_sec_criteria
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingdirectory/11.0/pingdirectory_security_guide/pd_sec_criteria.html
revdate: September 13, 2023
page_aliases: ["pd_sec_third_party_connection_criteria.adoc", "pd_sec_third_party_request_criteria.adoc", "pd_sec_third_party_result_criteria.adoc", "pd_sec_third_party_search_entry_criteria.adoc", "pd_sec_third_party_search_ref_criteria.adoc"]
---

# Criteria

The PingDirectory server provides a powerful criteria subsystem that allows it to match connections, requests, responses, entries, and references based on a wide variety of characteristics.

Criteria can be used in many ways in the server. Some of these include:

* When determining which client connection policy should be assigned to a connection

* When determining which log messages should be recorded in an access log

* When determining which types of requests should be allowed over an insecure connection if the `reject-insecure-requests` global configuration property is set to true

* When determining which types of requests should be allowed over an unauthenticated connection if the `reject-unauthenticated-requests` global configuration property is set to true

* When determining which types of bind requests should be forwarded to another server when pass-through authentication is enabled

* When determining which operations should automatically use assured replication.

* When determining which entries should be automatically updated to use entryUUID as the naming attribute

* When determining which types of delete operations should be processed as soft deletes.

* When determining which types of add and modify operations should result in "account created" and "account updated" account status notifications

* When determining the types of operations for which a custom plugin should be invoked

|   |                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| - | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|   | You can use the UnboundID Server SDK to create your own custom criteria implementations for connections, requests, results, search result entries, and search result references. |