HowTo Reload a Server’s Database

There are times that a server is too far out of date for delta-syncrepl to synchronize or that you are bringing a server online and need to load the database.

Reload instructions:

Substitute your directory’s suffix for “dc=sample,dc=com” in the two mentions below. On the node with the known good database (probably your primary Master/Producer), do the following to export the database to an ldif file using slapcat:

Database export

 sudo slapcat -F /opt/symas/etc/openldap/slapd.d -b "dc=sample,dc=com" -l <filename>.ldif

Transfer the ldif file to the server to reload

 scp <filename>.ldif <host>:<directory>

The following will be done on the server to be reloaded

Stop slapd

 sudo systemctl stop slapd

Ensure slapd is stopped

 sudo systemctl status slapd

Clear existing database files

 sudo rm -Rf /var/symas/openldap-data/*

Import the LDIF file

 sudo slapadd -F opt/symas/etc/openldap/slapd.d  -b "dc=sample,dc=com" -l <filename>.ldif -q

If you are running slapd with a different user and group than root, change owner (and group) for /var/symas/openldap-data directory and its file(s):

 sudo chown -R openldap:openldap /var/symas/openldap-data

Start slapd

 sudo systemctl start slapd

Check slapd status

 sudo systemctl status slapd

Reload complete