Special Edition Using Microsoft Active Directory

Modifying the Schema

The bottom line is that, sooner or later, you or an application you install will modify the schema. Perhaps the single biggest issue to keep in mind is that schema modifications are not unique to the computer, the domain, or the tree. They are global to the forest. Every member of a forest has three things in common with every other member: Kerberos transitive trusts, a common global catalog (GC), and a common schema. Modifications you make to the schema are replicated to every domain controller in the forest.

Reasons for Schema Modification

Several reasons exist to modify the schema, but generally they all boil down to a need to store information in the Active Directory. If classes and attributes are already defined to store ...