The PingDirectory server provides an LDIF connection handler that provides a way to request operations that do not require any network communication with the server. This can be particularly helpful if a configuration problem or bug in the server has left a connection handler unusable, or if all worker threads are busy processing operations.

The LDIF connection handler is enabled by default and looks for LDIF files to be placed in the config/auto-process-ldif directory. This PingDirectory server does not exist by default, but if it is created and an LDIF file is placed in it that contains one or more changes to be processed, then those changes will be applied.

Any changes that can be made over LDAP can be applied through the LDIF connection handler. It is primarily intended for administrative operations like updating the server configuration or scheduling tasks, although other types of changes (including changes to data contained in the server) can be processed. As the LDIF file is processed, a new file is written with comments for each change providing information about the result of processing that change.