Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Security Handbook

The Directory Schema

The schema is a sort of dictionary that describes the object classes and attributes that can be created in the directory. It is the schema that defines each object, what its mandatory and optional attributes are, and the object class that is the object's classes parent class. Schemas are not something that were created just to use in directories. For example, an SQL database uses a schema to define the types of objects it can store. When the administrator creates new object classes or attributes or modifies them, the schema is changed. The best way to think of a schema for a directory is to think of it as the blueprint that defines the directory objects and attributes.

You will remember that earlier in this chapter I discussed ...