An attribute is a named property of a directory entry, stored as a key-value pair that describes an entity such as a user, printer, or network share. Entries reside in a hierarchical directory information tree and are uniquely identified by distinguished names. section 16.3.1
Attributes participate in directory structure and access in several ways:
- ObjectClasses define entity types and their keys; for example, the person class uses sn for surname and initials as an optional field. section 16.3.1
- LDAP operations can compare an attribute value, modify attributes, or search for entries matching attribute-based criteria. section 16.3.1
Figure 16.9 Information in a directory service is stored in a hierarchical structure named DIT. Entries represent an entity such as a person and hold key-value attributes about the entity.
Use the directory-tree figure to see how an entry represents an entity and holds its attributes. section 16.3.1
