The PingDirectory Server export-ldif command-line tool exports data from Directory Server backend to an LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) file. The tool must be run in the non-task based mode, which implies that it works outside of the server JVM process. The export-ldif must be run without connection or task arguments while the server is either online or offline. This tool exports a point-in-time snapshot of the backend which is guaranteed to provide a consistent state of the database, in LDIF, which can be reimported with import-ldif if necessary.

The data exported by export-ldif can include all or a portion of the entries (a subset of the entries or a subset of the attributes within entries or both) contained in the backend. This is accomplished by specifying branches, filters, and attributes to include or exclude. The exported LDIF can be compressed, encrypted or digitally signed.

Note: LDIF exports can be configured as recurring tasks with dsconfig create-recurring-task, and then scheduled to run when added to a recurring task chain.