Schema Files

Active Directory data is distributed among all domain controllers in the forest. No single domain controller stores all Active Directory data for the entire forest, but every domain controller does hold a copy of the schema. The Active Directory data that is in use on a particular domain controller is stored in a file named Ntds.dit. The location of the Ntds.dit file is an option that is set during the promotion process while you create the directory. The default location for the database and database log files is %SystemRoot%\Ntds. (For more information about the Ntds.dit file, see "Active Directory Data Storage" in this book.)

Another file, the Schema.ini initialization file contains the information that is necessary for creating the default directory objects and the default security for the DIT, as well as the Active Directory display specifiers. For information about display specifiers, see the Microsoft Platform SDK link on the Web Resources page at http://windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/reskit/webresources. Although this file is named Schema.ini, the schema itself is actually preloaded and is contained in the base version of Ntds.dit that is installed by the Active Directory Installation wizard.

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