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As shown in Figure 1-3, class objects and attribute objects are defined in separate lists within the schema. Schema class objects and attribute objects are collectively referred to as schema objects or metadata. 500 OID Syntax range limits accountExpires accountNameHistory aCSAggregateTokenRatePerUser catalogs categories categoryID Figure 1-3 Schema class objects and attribute objects Schema class objects describe the possible Active Directory objects that can be created. A schema class functions as a template for creating new Active Directory objects.

The e-mail address book listing might also contain a street address or other information about the user or entity. In a distributed computing system or a public computer network such as the Internet, there are many objects stored in a directory, such as file servers, printers, fax servers, applications, databases, and users. Users must be able to locate and use these objects. Administrators must be able to manage how these objects are used. A directory service stores all the information needed to use and manage these objects in a centralized loca­ tion, simplifying the process of locating and managing these resources.

An available bandwidth (the average amount of bandwidth that is Lesson 1 Active Directory Overview 1-15 available for use after normal network traffic is handled) of 128 Kbps and higher is suf­ ficient for a site. With Active Directory, sites are not part of the namespace. When you browse the log­ ical namespace, you see computers and users grouped into domains and OUs, not sites. Sites contain only computer objects and connection objects used to configure replication between sites. As shown in Figure 1-8, a single domain can span one or more geographical sites, and a single site can include user accounts and computers belonging to multiple domains.