Installing slapd on Ubuntu 9.10 is not enough. The configuration of slapd requires more steps. I refer to article: http://doc.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/serverguide/C/openldap-server.html which apparently also applies to 9.10. Make sure you load the necessary schemas: ldapadd -Y EXTERNAL -H ldapi:/// -f /etc/ldap/schema/cosine.ldif ldapadd -Y EXTERNAL -H ldapi:/// -f /etc/ldap/schema/nis.ldif ldapadd -Y EXTERNAL -H ldapi:/// -f /etc/ldap/schema/inetorgperson.ldif My ldif file I wanted to load contains dc=ldap,dc=example,dc=ipp. So I wanted to set up a rootdn starting with same domain. # Load dynamic backend modules dn: cn=module,cn=config objectClass: olcModuleList cn: module olcModulepath: /usr/lib/ldap olcModuleload: back_hdb # Database settings dn: olcDatabase=hdb,cn=config objectClass: olcDatabaseConfig objectClass: olcHdbConfig olcDatabase: {1}hdb olcSuffix: dc=ldap,dc=example,dc=ipp olcDbDirectory: /var/lib/ldap olcRootDN: cn=admin,dc=ldap,dc=example,dc=ipp olcRootPW: secret ...