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<AttributeName> Properties Sheet

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012

Tab Details

Common Name

The relative distinguished name of the class instance.

X.500 OID

The object identifier (also known as OID), which is issued by the International Standards Organization (ISO) and guaranteed to be unique across all networks worldwide. Object identifiers ensure that classes or attributes that are defined by different entities do not conflict when various directory services, such as Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), are brought together into a global directory.

Syntax and Range
  • Syntax : A data type that can be used for a particular attribute, such as an integer, a string, or a date. Every attribute of every object is associated with exactly one syntax.

  • Minimum : Valid characters are 0 through 9. The minimum acceptable value is determined by the attribute's syntax. Integer, Large Integer, and Enumeration syntaxes accept negative numbers. For these syntaxes, the smallest value that can be entered is -2,147,483,648. For all other syntaxes, the smallest value that can be entered is 0 (zero).

  • Maximum : Valid characters are 0 through 9. The maximum acceptable value is determined by the attribute's syntax. If minimum and maximum values are defined, the maximum value must be greater than or equal to the minimum value.

  • This attribute is single-valued : In Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), attributes can be single-valued (they can be assigned only one value) or multivalued (they can be assigned many values). An example of a single-valued attribute is "manager" because a user can have only one manager. An example of a multivalued attribute is "member" because a group can have many members.

Attribute is active

Clear the check box to deactivate the attribute if it is active. You can use deactivation to recover the attribute; deletion is permanent.

AD DS does not permit you to delete classes or attributes. When an attribute is deactivated, you cannot use it in definitions of new classes and you cannot add it to existing class definitions.

Index this attribute

Indexing an attribute increases search efficiency, but it also adds to storage requirements. Index only the attributes that are most likely to be searched.

Ambiguous Name Resolution (ANR)

Adds the attribute to the set of attributes that can be searched with an ANR filter of the form (ANR= string ). When the (ANR= string ) filter is encountered by AD DS, the filter is expanded to include a search of every attribute in the ANR set. For example, an ANR search is implemented when you use the Check Names option in Microsoft Outlook that searches against a Microsoft Exchange mail server. Because physicalDeliveryOfficeName is in the default ANR attribute set, you can type the building number and room number as it appears in the attribute value into the To line of a mail message and then click Check Names . The Address Book responds with the user name of any account that contains that value in the physicalDeliveryOfficeName attribute of a user object. This option is available for string-valued attributes only.

Replicate this attribute to the Global Catalog

Adds the attribute to the set of attributes, called the partial attribute set (PAS), that is replicated to all domain controllers in the forest. All objects are replicated to the global catalog, but only the attributes that are included in the PAS are replicated. PAS attributes should be those attributes that are most likely to be used to search for the object.

Attribute is copied when duplicating a user

Applies only to attributes that occur in the user class. When a user object is copied to create a new user instance, these attributes are included.

Index this attribute for containerized searches

Allows the defining of a search for an attribute that is located in a specific container.

Additional references