PingDirectory

Change number

This topic provides the change number purpose, functions, and components.

As described in About the replication protocol, the PingDirectory server assigns a unique change number to each update operation, specifically ADD, DELETE, MODIFY, or MODIFY DN operations, to track each request received from a client. The change number is attached to each update propagated through replication and allows each PingDirectory server to order updates exactly the same way.

The change number is composed of the following fields:

Timestamp

Identifies when the update was made. The timestamp is time-zone-independent and recorded with millisecond resolution.

Server ID

Uniquely identifies the PingDirectory server where the update was made.

Sequence number

Defines the order of the updates received from external clients at a particular server..

The replication protocol sets a virtual clock that eliminates the need for synchronized time on servers. For troubleshooting purposes, you should keep the system clocks synchronized.