Special Edition Using Microsoft Active Directory

What Makes a Directory?

A directory is made up of the schema, classes, attributes, and values. Although a multitude of support services exist, such as LDAP and DNS, the directory itself is a database of objects.

Schema

The schema is the logical map of the database. The first Domain Controller in the forest creates the default schema from a file used during the installation. This schema is then used to create objects in the domain. The schema includes information about which objects can be created, the attributes of the objects, and the datatypes allowed for those attributes. The schema for any database is the blueprint for that database. The Active Directory schema is extensible—if your enterprise would benefit from an object in the Active Directory ...