SLAPD-MONITOR(5)

📦
version 2.7.2 · 24 versions
, in arch rolling

💖 SLAPD-MONITOR 💖 — the tea on the monitor backend

okay bestie, so this is from the File Formats Manual section of the OpenLDAP universe, and it's about slapd-monitor, aka the monitor backend for slapd 💅

✨ NAME ✨

slapd-monitor — the Monitor backend to slapd, no cap 🫶

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

/etc/openldap/slapd.conf

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so here's the vibe: the monitor backend to slapd(8) is not an actual database — it's giving concept, not storage 💀 if you enable it, it just gets automatically generated and dynamically maintained by slapd itself, holding all the deets about the running status of the daemon. so like, it's not a database, it's a situationship with your daemon ✨

to inspect all the monitor information, you issue a subtree search with base cn=Monitor, and you request that attributes "+" and "*" are returned. that's the move 👑

the monitor backend produces mostly operational attributes, and LDAP only returns operational attributes that are explicitly requested — it's not gonna overshare, it's not that kind of friend 🙈 requesting attribute "+" is an extension which requests all operational attributes. iconic behavior honestly.

🎀 CONFIGURATION 🎀

these slapd.conf options apply to the monitor backend database. meaning: they must follow a "database monitor" line, and come before any subsequent "backend" or "database" lines. order matters bestie, don't play with me 💅

as opposed to most databases, the monitor database can be instantiated only once — i.e. only one occurrence of "database monitor" can occur in the slapd.conf(5) file. and not only that, the suffix of the database cannot be explicitly set by means of the suffix directive. the suffix is automatically set to "cn=Monitor". it picks its own name, main character energy fr fr ✨

the monitor database honors the rootdn and the rootpw directives, and the usual ACL directives, e.g. the access directive. so yes, bestie, you can gatekeep it 😌

other database options are described in the slapd.conf(5) manual page.

🌈 USAGE 🌈

the usage is, in order, bestie, do not skip steps:

  1. enable the monitor backend at configure:
configure --enable-monitor
  1. activate the monitor database in the slapd.conf(5) file:
database monitor
  1. add ACLs as detailed in slapd.access(5) to control access to the database, e.g.:
access to dn.subtree="cn=Monitor"
     by dn.exact="uid=Admin,dc=my,dc=org" write
     by users read
     by * none
  1. ensure that the core.schema file is loaded. the monitor backend relies on some standard track attributeTypes that must be already defined when the backend is started. no schema, no vibes. periodt.

🔥 ACCESS CONTROL 🔥

the monitor backend honors access control semantics as indicated in slapd.access(5), including the disclose access privilege, on all currently implemented operations. so it's not out here doing unpermitted side quests, it respects the rules 🫶

💀 KNOWN LIMITATIONS 💀

okay so this is the part where we keep it real: the monitor backend does not honor size/time limits in search operations. ngl, that's just how it is 😭

🍓 FILES 🍓

  • /etc/openldap/slapd.conf — default slapd configuration file

🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

slapd.conf(5), slapd-config(5), slapd.access(5), slapd(8), ldap(3).

👑 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 👑

OpenLDAP Software is developed and maintained by The OpenLDAP Project <http://www.openldap.org/>. OpenLDAP Software is derived from the University of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release. give them their flowers, they earned them 💐

and that's the whole page bestie, mwah 💋 this was OpenLDAP 2.7.2, dated 2026/10/21 — SLAPD-MONITOR(5), slaying since forever, no cap ✨💖🦋

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