Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Scripting Guide

Having a general understanding of Active Directory physical architecture and logical structure will help you successfully create ADSI scripts to complete directory management tasks. For example, knowing how to determine the attributes that can be assigned to an object will aid you in writing attributes to the object. Also, knowing which attributes are stored in the Global Catalog and which are indexed will aid you in writing efficient search scripts.

Active Directory physical architecture includes the Active Directory store and the components that make the store accessible. Active Directory logical structure defines how the directory is managed using ADSI and other tools, such as various Microsoft Management Command window (MMC) snap-ins.