Windows Administration Resource Kit: Productivity Solutions for IT Professionals

7-4: Extending the Attributes of User Objects

Solution overview

Type of solution	Guidance
Features and tools	Underused and unexposed attributes of user objects, schema extensions, linked attributes
Solution summary	Discover attributes that already exist in Active Directory but are not exposed by the standard Windows user interfaces, and apply a schema extension to user administration and management.
Benefits	Leverage the value of Active Directory as a distributed, efficiently replicated database to increase manageability and administrative productivity.

Introduction

User objects contain dozens of attributes and, unfortunately, not all of them are exposed in the user interface (UI). Even attributes that most organizations would describe as fundamental are ...