The following evaluation ordering is used to determine options for a given command-line utility:

  • All options used with a utility on the command line take precedence over any options in any properties file.
  • If the --propertiesFilePath option is used with no other options, the server takes its options from the specified properties file.
  • If no options are used on the command line including the --propertiesFilePath option (and --noPropertiesFile), the server searches for the tools.properties file at <server-root>.
  • If no default properties file is found and a required option is missing, the tool generates an error.
  • Tool-specific properties (such as ldapsearch.port=3389) have precedence over general properties (such as port=1389).