Problem converting slapd.conf to cn=config format

[Patrick Lists <openldap-list@puzzled.xs4all.nl>]

Hi all,

New to the list and (Open)LDAP so apologies if I'm missing the obvious. 
I've gone through the Admin Guide and some other docs I found online but 
I still have problems converting a slapd.conf to the cn=config format on 
a CentOS 6.3 x86_64 box with openldap-2.4.23-26.el6_3.2

$ cat ~/slapd.conf.new

# general parameters
include	/etc/openldap/schema/corba.schema
include	/etc/openldap/schema/core.schema
include	/etc/openldap/schema/cosine.schema
include	/etc/openldap/schema/duaconf.schema
include	/etc/openldap/schema/dyngroup.schema
include	/etc/openldap/schema/inetorgperson.schema
include	/etc/openldap/schema/java.schema
include	/etc/openldap/schema/misc.schema
include	/etc/openldap/schema/nis.schema
include	/etc/openldap/schema/openldap.schema
include	/etc/openldap/schema/ppolicy.schema
include	/etc/openldap/schema/collective.schema
allow bind_v2
loglevel 296
pidfile	/var/run/openldap/slapd.pid
argsfile /var/run/openldap/slapd.args
password-hash {SSHA}
modulepath /usr/lib64/openldap
TLSCipherSuite HIGH
TLSCACertificatePath /etc/openldap/certs
TLSCertificateFile "\"OpenLDAP Server\""
TLSCertificateKeyFile /etc/openldap/certs/password
lastmod on

# databases
database config
rootdn "cn=admin,cn=config"
rootpw {SSHA}LDeTJEEBhqypKL2FpQuFc2j4Na1TLTRW
access to *
by dn.exact="gidNumber=0+uidNumber=0,cn=peercred,cn=external,cn=auth" manage
by * none

# enable server status monitoring (cn=monitor)
database monitor
access to *
by dn.exact="gidNumber=0+uidNumber=0,cn=peercred,cn=external,cn=auth" read
by dn.exact="cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com" read
by * none

database hdb
suffix "dc=example,dc=com"
rootdn "cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com"
rootpw {SSHA}LDeTJEEBhqypKL2FpQuFc2j4Na1TLTRW
mode 600
checkpoint 512 30
cachesize 2097152
index uid pres,eq
index cn,sn,mail pres,eq,approx,sub
index objectClass eq

directory /var/lib/ldap


Steps I did:

# service slapd stop
# rm -rf /var/lib/ldap/*
# rm -rf /etc/openldap/slapd.d/*
# cp /usr/share/openldap-servers/DB_CONFIG.example /var/lib/ldap/DB_CONFIG
# echo "" | slapadd -v -d 448 -f ./slapd.conf.new
# slaptest -v -d 448 -f ./slapd.conf.new -F /etc/openldap/slapd.d

The last step just hangs and does not do anything even after waiting 45 
minutes.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Pointers most appreciated.

Thanks!
Patrick