Directory Server supports dynamic plug-ins that can be enabled without restarting the server. The nsslapd-dynamic-plugins attribute specifies whether the server is configured to allow for dynamic plug-ins. By default, dynamic plug-ins are disabled.

Some plug-ins cannot be configured as dynamic, and they require the server to be restarted.

Some plug-in entries are container entries, and multiple instances of the plug-in are created beneath this container in cn=plugins,cn=config. However, the cn=plugins,cn=config is not replicated, which means that the plug-in configurations beneath those container entries must be configured manually, in some way, on every Directory Server instance.

The nsslapd-pluginConfigArea attribute points to another container entry, in the main database area, which contains the plug-in instance entries. This container entry can be in a replicated database, which allows the plug-in configuration to be replicated.

This attribute specifies whether to load all of the symbols used by a plug-in immediately (true), as well as all symbols references by those symbols, or to load the symbol the first time it is used (false).

This attribute specifies whether the symbols in dependent libraries are made visible locally (false) or to the executable and to all shared objects (true).

Multi-valued attribute used to ensure that plug-ins are called by the server in the correct order. Takes a value which corresponds to the type number of a plug-in, contained in the attribute nsslapd-pluginType. See Section 4.2.10, “nsslapd-pluginType” for further information. All plug-ins with a type value which matches one of the values in the following valid range will be started by the server prior to this plug-in. The following postoperation Referential Integrity Plug-in example shows that the database plug-in will be started prior to the postoperation Referential Integrity Plug-in.

Multi-valued attribute used to ensure that plug-ins are called by the server in the correct order. Takes a value which corresponds to the cn value of a plug-in. The plug-in with a cn value matching one of the following values will be started by the server prior to this plug-in. If the plug-in does not exist, the server fails to start. The following postoperation Referential Integrity Plug-in example shows that the Views plug-in is started before Roles. If Views is missing, the server is not going to start.