adding large amounts of data to directory?

[Andrew Kohlsmith <akohlsmith@benshaw.com>]

I've got an approximately 3000 entry ldif file from Outlook which I've
massaged enough to enter into an OpenLDAP directory.

ldapadd -D 'cn=root,dc=benshaw,dc=com' -w password < new.ldif

goes and seems to work okay, but then one of the slapd processes hits zombie
state and everything LDAP freezes.  I have to break out of the ldapadd
command and killall -TERM slapd / killall -9 slapd and restart to continue,
although it will freeze again somewhere else.

If I turn on -d 63 on slapd and run it in the foreground I don't seem to
freeze up, but it is dog slow (naturally).  

Any suggestions?  What am I doing wrong?

Andrew