---
title: Choosing a datastore
description: This topic describes how to select a datastore for PingFederate to use for looking up attributes.
component: pingfederate
version: 13.1
page_id: pingfederate:administrators_reference_guide:pf_choosing_datastore
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingfederate/13.1/administrators_reference_guide/pf_choosing_datastore.html
llms_txt: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingfederate/llms.txt
docs_for_agents: https://developer.pingidentity.com/build-with-ai/docs-for-agents.md
revdate: July 8, 2024
section_ids:
  about-this-task: About this task
  steps: Steps
---

# Choosing a datastore

This topic describes how to select a datastore for PingFederate to use for looking up attributes.

### About this task

On the **Data Store** window, choose a datastore for PingFederate to look up attributes.

### Steps

1. Enter a description and ID, if prompted, for the datastore.

2. Select a datastore instance from the **Active Data Store** list.

   |   |                                                                                                                                               |
   | - | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
   |   | If the datastore you want is not shown in the **Active Data Store** list, click **Manage Data Stores** to review or add a datastore instance. |

3. Depending on the datastore type, the rest of the setup varies as follows.

   | Data store type | Required tasks                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
   | --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
   | JDBC            | * [Specifying database tables and columns](pf_specifying_database_tables_columns.html)

   * [Entering a database search filter](pf_entering_database_search_filter.html)                                                                                                                         |
   | LDAP            | - [Specifying directory properties and attributes](pf_specify_directory_properties_and_attributes.html)

   - [Defining encoding for binary attributes](pf_defining_encoding_binary_attributes.html) (optional)

   - [Entering a directory search filter](pf_entering_directory_search_filter.html) |
   | Other           | * [Specifying data source filters and fields](pf_specifying_data_source_filters_fields.html)                                                                                                                                                                                                   |