Netscape NETSCAPE DIRECTORY SERVER 6.1 - ADMINISTRATOR, Administrator'S Manual

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Appendix A
LDAP Data Interchange Format
Netscape Directory Server (Directory Server) uses the LDAP Data Interchange
Format (LDIF) to describe a directory and directory entries in text format. LDIF is
commonly used to build the initial directory database or to add large numbers of
entries to the directory all at once. In addition, LDIF is also used to describe
changes to directory entries. For this reason, most of Directory Server’s
command-line utilities rely on LDIF for either input or output.
Because LDIF is a text file format, you can create your LDIF files using virtually
any language. All directory data is stored using the UTF-8 encoding of Unicode.
Therefore, the LDIF files you create must also be UTF-8 encoded.
This chapter provides information about LDIF in the following sections:
• LDIF File Format (page 499)
• Specifying Directory Entries Using LDIF (page 503)
• Defining Directories Using LDIF (page 507)
• Storing Information in Multiple Languages (page 510)
For information on using LDIF to modify directory entries, see Chapter 2,
“Creating Directory Entries.”
LDIF File Format
LDIF consists of one or more directory entries separated by a blank line. Each LDIF
entry consists of an optional entry ID, a required distinguished name, one or more
object classes, and multiple attribute definitions.
The LDIF format is defined in RFC 2849 The LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF).
Directory Server is compliant with this standard.