Red Hat Directory Server 8.0 Administrator's Guide

Extending the Directory Schema
Red Hat Directory Server comes with a standard schema that includes hundreds of object
classes and attributes. While the standard object classes and attributes should meet most
deployments' requirements, it can be necessary to extend the schema for specific directory
data. Extending the schema is done by creating new object classes and attributes.
1. Overview of Extending Schema
There are two steps, in the proper order, required to extend the directory schema:
1. Create new attributes, as in Section 2.2, “Creating Attributes”.
2. Create an object class to contain the new attributes, and add the attributes to the object
class, as in Section 3.2, “Creating Object Classes”.
When new attributes are added to the schema, a new object class must be created to contain
them. Although it may seem convenient to add any new attributes to an existing object class
that already contains most of the attributes you require, doing so compromises interoperability
with LDAP clients. The interoperability of Directory Server with existing LDAP clients relies on
the standard LDAP schema. Changing the standard schema can also create difficulties when
upgrading the Directory Server. For these reasons, standard schema elements, both attributes
and object classes, cannot be edited or deleted.
2. Managing Attributes
The Directory Server Console shows all attributes in the schema, and you can create, edit, and
delete attribute extensions to the schema. The following sections describe how to manage
attributes:
• Section 2.1, “Viewing Attributes”
• Section 2.2, “Creating Attributes”
• Section 2.3, “Editing Attributes”
• Section 2.4, “Deleting Attributes”
For information on managing object classes, see Section 3, “Managing Object Classes”.
2.1. Viewing Attributes
To view information about all attributes that currently exist in the directory schema, do the
following:
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