Ability to describe simple data hierarchy.
Try This: On a piece of paper, create a simple data hierarchy for yourself, starting with "Country" and ending with "Common name"
Factoid: In a typical directory service the number of read operations is vastly greater than the number of write operations, sometimes by a factor of 1,000 or more.
See the complete list of attributes for InitOrgperson in the online documentation.
| # Directory Server Database The related concepts of data hierarchy and schema are central to understanding a directory service. Entry Attributes Every entry in the directory includes a list of descriptive attributes. For example, an organizational person entry will include attributes such as first and last name, nicknames or aliases, and contact information such as email addresses and phone numbers. This attribute list will be different for each type of entry, depending on that entry's requirements. For example, a modem does not need an e-mail address any more than an organizational person needs a serial number. Moreover, some kinds of attributes may be required for the entry (first and last name, for example), while others are optional (such as cellular phone numbers). Data Hierarchy Data in the directory is arranged in a tree hierarchy. That is, the hierarchy begins at a single point known as the root and branches down to the location of the directory entries. Because LDAP is intended to be a global directory service, the top of the Directory Server tree is traditionally represented by country name, followed by a series of geographic and physical location information, followed by a common name. For example, a person named George Jetson who works in shipping and receiving for Spacely Sprockets in the state of California, US, would be located with the following entry: Country = US State = California Organization = Spacely Sprockets Organizational unit = Widgets Common name = George Jetson A different George Jetson who works for the same company but in the accounting department would be uniquely represented with the following entry: Country = US State = California Organization = Spacely Sprockets Organizational unit = Accounting Common name = George Jetson The following figure shows an example LDAP directory hierarchy: Object Classes Because LDAP's data model is based on the X.500 standard, directory databases can contain an almost unlimited range of information. X.500 is an international standard for the global directory structure which defines the kinds of information that can be included in directory databases. The complete list is quite large, and includes almost every reasonable category of information you might ever want to use. The type of data that an entry is defined to contain is known as the entry's object class. Every entry in the directory is defined to be of a certain type, or object class. Each object class is defined to allow specific types of descriptive elements, known as the attribute list. Commonly used object classes include the following: Organizational Person - an entry representing a person who is employed by or in some way associated with the organization. Residential Person - an entry representing a person who is in the residential environment (that is, a person who is not a member of the organization). Organizational Role - an entry representing a position or role within an organization. Examples might be the postmaster, system administrator, or the help desk. Device - an entry representing a physical unit that can communicate, such as a modem or a disk drive.

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