Directory Services

Dynamic Auxiliary Classes

Like structural and abstract object classes, auxiliary classes are defined by a classSchema object in the Active Directory schema. For more information, see Structural, Abstract, and Auxiliary Classes. This schema definition specifies various characteristics of the class, including the attributes associated with the class.

Unlike with structural classes, you cannot create an instance of an auxiliary class. Instead, you use an auxiliary class to extend the list of attributes associated with another structural, abstract, or auxiliary object class.

In the initial release of Windows 2000, Active Directory provided support for statically linking auxiliary classes to the classSchema definition of another object class. When an auxiliary class is used in this way, every instance of the object class supports the attributes of the auxiliary class.

Beginning with Windows Server 2003 family operating systems, Active Directory provides support for dynamically linking auxiliary classes to individual objects, and not just to entire classes of objects. In addition, auxiliary classes that have been attached to an object instance can subsequently be removed from the instance.

For more information about auxilliary classes, see: