Since 2.3, OpenLDAP uses a configuration engine called slapd-config. They said that use it make all LDAP configuration can be changed on fly. This is the header of /etc/ldap/slapd.d/cn=config.ldif: # AUTO-GENERATED FILE - DO NOT EDIT!! Use ldapmodify. I've changed data in it and some other files which have that header, after restarting slapd, my changes took effects. Is there anything else happen if I change those files manually? If I don't need 'change on fly', should I edit those file manually instead of using ldapmodify? Which application generated those files, and when? NOTE: I'm using openldap-2.4.28 on Ubuntu 12.04