HP-UX Directory Server 8.1 deployment guide

• International index
Improves the performance of searches for information in international directories. Configure
the index to apply a matching rule by associating a locale (internationalization OID) with
the attribute being indexed.
• Browsing index or virtual list view (VLV) index
Improves the display performance of entries in the Directory Server Console. A browsing
index can be created on any branch in the directory tree to improve the display performance.
5.4.2 Evaluating the costs of indexing
Indexes improve search performance in the directory databases, but there is a cost involved:
• Indexes increase the time it takes to modify entries.
The more indexes being maintained, the longer it takes the directory service to update the
database.
• Index files use disk space.
The more attributes being indexed, the more files are created. If there are approximate and
substring indexes for attributes that contain long strings, these files can grow rapidly.
• Index files use memory.
To run more efficiently, the directory service places as many index files in memory as possible.
Index files use memory out of the pool available depending upon the database cache size.
A large number of index files requires a larger database cache.
• Index files take time to create.
Although index files save time during searches, maintaining unnecessary indexes can waste
time. Be certain to maintain only the files needed by the client applications using the directory
service.
5.4 Using indexes to improve database performance 71