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Description attribute (AD Schema)

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Contains the description to display for an object. This value is restricted as single-valued for backward compatibility in some cases but is allowed to be multi-valued in others. See Remarks.

Entry Value
CN Description
Ldap-Display-Name description
Size -
Update Privilege Domain administrator or account owner.
Update Frequency Whenever the description needs to change.
Attribute-Id 2.5.4.13
System-Id-Guid bf967950-0de6-11d0-a285-00aa003049e2
Syntax String(Unicode)

Implementations

Windows 2000 Server

Entry Value
Link-Id -
MAPI-Id 0x806F
System-Only False
Is-Single-Valued False
Is Indexed False
In Global Catalog True
NT-Security-Descriptor O:BAG:BAD:S:
Range-Lower 0
Range-Upper 1024
Search-Flags 0x00000000
System-Flags 0x00000010
Classes used in Sam-Domain
Top

Windows Server 2003

Entry Value
Link-Id -
MAPI-Id 0x806F
System-Only False
Is-Single-Valued False
Is Indexed False
In Global Catalog True
NT-Security-Descriptor O:BAG:BAD:S:
Range-Lower 0
Range-Upper 1024
Search-Flags 0x00000000
System-Flags 0x00000010
Classes used in groupOfUniqueNames
Sam-Domain
Top

ADAM

Entry Value
Link-Id -
MAPI-Id 0x806F
System-Only False
Is-Single-Valued False
Is Indexed False
In Global Catalog True
NT-Security-Descriptor O:BAG:BAD:S:
Range-Lower 0
Range-Upper 1024
Search-Flags 0x00000000
System-Flags 0x00000010
Classes used in Top

Windows Server 2003 R2

Entry Value
Link-Id -
MAPI-Id 0x806F
System-Only False
Is-Single-Valued False
Is Indexed False
In Global Catalog True
NT-Security-Descriptor O:BAG:BAD:S:
Range-Lower 0
Range-Upper 1024
Search-Flags 0x00000000
System-Flags 0x00000010
Classes used in groupOfUniqueNames
Sam-Domain
Top
posixAccount
shadowAccount
posixGroup
ipService
ipProtocol
oncRpc
ipHost
ipNetwork
nisNetgroup
nisMap
nisObject

Windows Server 2008

Entry Value
Link-Id -
MAPI-Id 0x806F
System-Only False
Is-Single-Valued False
Is Indexed False
In Global Catalog True
NT-Security-Descriptor O:BAG:BAD:S:
Range-Lower 0
Range-Upper 1024
Search-Flags 0x00000000
System-Flags 0x00000010
Classes used in groupOfUniqueNames
Sam-Domain
Top
posixAccount
shadowAccount
posixGroup
ipService
ipProtocol
oncRpc
ipHost
ipNetwork
nisNetgroup
nisMap
nisObject

Windows Server 2008 R2

Entry Value
Link-Id -
MAPI-Id 0x806F
System-Only False
Is-Single-Valued False
Is Indexed False
In Global Catalog True
NT-Security-Descriptor O:BAG:BAD:S:
Range-Lower 0
Range-Upper 1024
Search-Flags 0x00000000
System-Flags 0x00000010
Classes used in groupOfUniqueNames
Sam-Domain
Top
posixAccount
shadowAccount
posixGroup
ipService
ipProtocol
oncRpc
ipHost
ipNetwork
nisNetgroup
nisMap
nisObject

Windows Server 2012

Entry Value
Link-Id -
MAPI-Id 0x806F
System-Only False
Is-Single-Valued False
Is Indexed False
In Global Catalog True
NT-Security-Descriptor O:BAG:BAD:S:
Range-Lower 0
Range-Upper 1024
Search-Flags 0x00000000
System-Flags 0x00000010
Classes used in groupOfUniqueNames
Sam-Domain
Top
posixAccount
shadowAccount
posixGroup
ipService
ipProtocol
oncRpc
ipHost
ipNetwork
nisNetgroup
nisMap
nisObject

Remarks

The description attribute is implemented as a multi-valued attribute in the schema for the cases where that is allowed. For an object that is not a SAM managed class, the description is multi-valued. For an attribute that is a SAM managed class, the description attribute is single-valued. SAM managed classes are for things like security principals so, if you have, for example, a container, or a class of your own, the schema will let you use multiple values. This behavior of the description attribute is for backward compatibility with earlier operating systems because the attribute existed in the SAM APIs before AD existed.