The proxy virtual attributes apply to a local proxy backend, such as cn=config or the Root DSA-specific entry (DSE).

If you want virtual attributes in entries for proxied requests, they must be configured in the backend servers. Alternately, attributes can be inserted into those entries using proxy transformations. For more information, see Configuring proxy transformations.

For example, you can define a virtual attribute and assign it to the Root DSE using create-virtual-sttribute.

$ bin/dsconfig create-virtual-attribute \ 
  --name defineDescriptionOnRootDSE --type user-defined \
  --set enabled:true --set attribute-type:description \ 
  --set filter:objectclass=ds-root-dse --set value:PrimaryProxy   

If you search the Root DSE using the following LDAP search, you see that the description attribute now has the value PrimaryProxy.

$ bin/ldapsearch --baseDN "" --searchScope base --bindDN "" \ 
  --bindPassword "" --port 5389 -- hostname localhost \ 
  "objectclass=*" description                  

dn:
description:PrimaryProxy