It is necessary to load the schemas into ldap to have it understand
users:
My slapd.conf, some interesting points include the inclusion of the admin user within the database definition. That makes my life easier, but it does have the disadvantage of leaving the root dn's password sitting around in your /etc/ldap/slapd.conf or what have you.

# Schema and objectClass definitions
include         /etc/ldap/schema/core.schema
include         /etc/ldap/schema/cosine.schema
include         /etc/ldap/schema/nis.schema
include         /etc/ldap/schema/inetorgperson.schema

# Schema check allows for forcing entries to
# match schemas for their objectClasses's
schemacheck     off             ## Turning this on might make useradd/userdel die

# The base of your directory
suffix          "dc=griffin"

# Where the database file are physically stored
directory       "/var/lib/ldap"

# Indexing options
index objectClass eq

#######################################################################
# ldbm database definitions
#######################################################################
## Allow only reading by default
defaultaccess read

# The backend type, ldbm, is the default standard
database        ldbm

# The base of your directory
rootdn "cn=admin, dc=griffin"
rootpw mypassword

# The base of your directory
suffix          "dc=griffin"

# Where the database file are physically stored
directory       "/var/lib/ldap"

# Indexing options
index objectClass eq

# Save the time that the entry gets modified
lastmod on

# The userPassword by default can be changed
# by the entry owning it if they are authenticated.
# Others should not be able to see it, except the
# admin entry below
access to attribute=userPassword
        by dn="" write
        by anonymous auth
        by self write
        by * none

access to attribute=loginShell
	by dn="cn=admin, dc=griffin" write
	by self write
	by * read

access to *
	by dn="cn=admin, dc=griffin" write
	by * read