Special Edition Using Microsoft Active Directory

Schema Replication

When modifying the schema, it is important to consider replication. Again, the schema is replicated to all domain controllers in the forest. This means that your new classes and attributes are replicated to every DC in the forest.

Two copies of the schema actually exist: one in memory and one on disk. The copy in memory, called the schema cache, is checked to validate any changes made to the Active Directory. When performing schema modifications, the copy on disk is actually modified, and, over the next five minutes, is used to create a new copy of the schema cache. The schema partition of the AD is replicated to all DCs in the domain, but for increased responsiveness, the schema partition is loaded into memory. Every five ...