en-us/about_adschema.help.txt

TOPIC
    about_adschema
 
SHORT DESCRIPTION
    Manage the Active Directory schema with this module.
 
LONG DESCRIPTION
    The purpose of this module is to allow users to easily add attributes and classes to the schema of
    Active Directory. Editing the schema is often a daunting task and requires knowledge of several
    details that most people do not think about on a regular basis.
     
    There is also a lot of fear when it comes to manually adding attributes, because it is a task that
    cannot be undone. Attributes in AD can be disabled, but they cannot be deleted.
 
    Most of the time, an AD Administrator will want to add a handful of attributes to either user or computer
    objects for some reason or another. Maybe you want to store a computer's warranty expiration date in AD
    or you want to put some data you have in your HR System in AD for users, but there isn't a good fit with
    the out of the box attributes. Attributes should typically be named with a prefix. If I was creating a
    warranty expiration attribute for my computers, I would use soemthing like as-warrantyDate.
 
    Usually, the best practice is to create your new attributes, and then also create a new class.
    The new class should be an Auxiliary class. This essentially means that it can extend an existing class.
    Once you create the Auxiliary class, you can bind it to an existing class. This is actually something
    that can be undone, so it reeduces the fear and worry of really messing up your Active Directory.
 
    Last, a quick note about Object Identifiers, also known as OID. OID's are what are used as unique
    identifiers of schema attributes and classes in Active Directory. They are also used in MIB's for
    networking. For development purposes, you can generate your own OID's. There is even a function in
    this module that will do it for you. However, if you are going to extend your production schema, you
    should register for a Private Enterprise Number. Information on this can be found at
    http://pen.iana.org/pen/PenApplication.page.
 
EXAMPLES
   New-ADSchemaAttribute -Name asFavColor -Description 'User Favorite Color' -AttributeType String
   New-ADSchemaClass asPerson -AdminDescription 'Person Class to host custom attributes' -Category Auxiliary
   Add-ADSchemaAttributeToClass -Attribute asFavColor -Class asPerson
   Add-ADSchemaAuxiliaryClassToClass -AuxiliaryClass asPerson -Class user
   Set-ADuser andy -add @{'asFavColor' = 'blue'}
   Get-ADuser andy -properties asFavColor
 
KEYWORDS
    AD ActiveDirectory Schema