21. Troubleshooting

If you're having trouble using OpenLDAP, get onto the OpenLDAP-Software mailing list, or:

Browse the list archives at http://www.openldap.org/lists/#archives
Search the FAQ at http://www.openldap.org/faq/
Search the Issue Tracking System at http://www.openldap.org/its/

Chances are the problem has been solved and explained in detail many times before.

21.1. User or Software errors?

More often than not, an error is caused by a configuration problem or a misunderstanding of what you are trying to implement and/or achieve.

We will now attempt to discuss common user errors.

21.2. Checklist

The following checklist can help track down your problem. Please try to use if before posting to the list, or in the rare circumstances of reporting a bug.

Use the slaptest tool to verify configurations before starting slapd
Verify that slapd is listening to the specified port(s) (389 and 636, generally) before trying the ldapsearch
Can you issue an ldapsearch?
If not, have you enabled complex ACLs without fully understanding them?
Do you have a system wide LDAP setting pointing to the wrong LDAP Directory?
Are you using TLS?
Have your certificates expired?

Sometimes you may encounter an actual OpenLDAP bug, in which case please visit our Issue Tracking system http://www.openldap.org/its/ and report it. However, make sure it's not already a known bug or a common user problem.

bugs in historic versions of OpenLDAP will not be considered;
bugs in released versions that are no longer present in HEAD code, either because they have been fixed or because they no longer apply, will not be considered as well;
bugs in distributions of OpenLDAP software that are not related to the software as provided by OpenLDAP will not be considered; in those cases please refer to the distributor.

Note: Our Issue Tracking system is NOT for OpenLDAP Support, please join our mailing Lists: http://www.openldap.org/lists/ for that.

The information you should provide in your bug report is discussed in our FAQ-O-MATIC at http://www.openldap.org/faq/data/cache/59.html

21.4. 3rd party software error

The OpenLDAP Project only supports OpenLDAP software.

You may however seek commercial support (http://www.openldap.org/support/) or join the general LDAP forum for non-commercial discussions and information relating to LDAP at: http://www.umich.edu/~dirsvcs/ldap/mailinglist.html

21.5. How to contact the OpenLDAP Project

Mailing Lists: http://www.openldap.org/lists/
Project: http://www.openldap.org/project/
Issue Tracking: http://www.openldap.org/its/

21.6. How to present your problem

21.7. Debugging slapd(8)

After reading through the above sections and before e-mailing the OpenLDAP lists, you might want to try out some of the following to track down the cause of your problems:

Loglevel stats (256) is generally a good first loglevel to try for getting information useful to list members on issues
Running slapd -d -1 can often track down fairly simple issues, such as missing schemas and incorrect file permissions for the slapd user to things like certs
Check your logs for errors, as discussed at http://www.openldap.org/faq/data/cache/358.html

21.8. Commercial Support

The firms listed at http://www.openldap.org/support/ offer technical support services catering to OpenLDAP community.

The listing of any given firm should not be viewed as an endorsement or recommendation of any kind, nor as otherwise indicating there exists a business relationship or an affiliation between any listed firm and the OpenLDAP Foundation or the OpenLDAP Project or its contributors.