Back in 2016 I posted some steps to repair Open Directory when the LDAP database has problems. On some servers this happens very rarely, on other servers it happens after every. single. reboot. I don’t know why the databases are so fragile and I don’t know why Apple couldn’t add these db_recover steps to the startup process for OD, or at least kick them off automatically if they detect that OD keeps starting and stopping again. Anyway…

I’ve put the relevant steps in an AppleScript that you can just double-click on to run the shell script from my prior post. Unzip this app and keep it somewhere handy for the next time Open Directory flips out.

http://automatica.com.au/wp-content/uploads/repair-open-directory.zip

It’s an AppleScript app created with Script Editor. You can open the script with Script Editor to check it does what it says it does (i.e. it’s not saved as Run Only). I would encourage you to do so and not trust some random script from some dude on the internet that asks for your admin credentials.