Beginning with Enterprise Server 7.0, the MLDAP ESM Module implements LDAP search-result caching. When this is enabled, the results of most successful LDAP searches (those that return a result, even an empty one, rather than an error) are stored for a period of time. If a subsequent request needs those results, they are returned from the cache, saving the network and processing latency of a query to the LDAP server.
Caching can significantly improve system performance, at the cost of some additional overhead and some delay in recalling changes to the external security information in the LDAP repository.