Windows Server 2003

The Active Directory ESE database, NTDS.DIT, consists of the following tables: * Schema table

the types of objects that can be created in the Active Directory, relationships between them, and the optional and mandatory attributes on each type of object. This table is fairly static and much smaller than the data table. * Link table

contains linked attributes, which contain values referring to other objects in the Active Directory. Take the MemberOf attribute on a user object. That attribute contains values that reference groups to which the user belongs. This is also far smaller than the data table. * Data table

users, groups, application-specific data, and any other data stored in the Active Directory. The data table can be thought of as having rows where each row represents an instance of an object such as a user, and columns where each column represents an attribute in the schema such as GivenName.

Ldifde creates, modifies, and deletes directory objects on computers running Windows Server 2003 operating systems or Windows XP Professional. You can also use Ldifde to extend the schema, export Active Directory user and group information to other applications or services, and populate Active Directory with data from other directory services. The LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) is a draft Internet standard for a file format that may be used for performing batch operations against directories that conform to the LDAP standards. LDIF can be used to export and import data, allowing batch operations such as add, create, and modify to be performed against the Active Directory. A utility program called LDIFDE is included in Windows 2000 to support batch operations based on the LDIF file format standard. This article is designed to help you better understand how the LDIFDE utility can be used to migrate directories. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/237677 Imports and exports data from Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) using files that store data in the comma-separated value (CSV) format. You can also support batch operations based on the CSV file format standard. Csvde is a command-line tool that is built into Windows Server 2008 in the/system32 folder. It is available if you have the AD DS or Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) server role installed. To use csvde, you must run the csvde command from an elevated command prompt. To open an elevated command prompt, click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732101.aspx Csvde.exe is a Microsoft Windows 2000 command-line utility that is located in the SystemRoot\System32 folder after you install Windows 2000. Csvde.exe is similar to Ldifde.exe, but it extracts information in a comma-separated value (CSV) format. You can use Csvde to import and export Active Directory data that uses the comma-separated value format. Use a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel to open this .csv file and view the header and value information. See Microsoft Excel Help for information about functions such as Concatenate that can simplify the process of building a .csv file.

Note Although Csvde is similar to Ldifde, Csvde has a significant limitation: it can only import and export Active Directory data by using a comma-separated format (.csv). Microsoft recommends that you use the Ldifde utility for Modify or Delete operations. Additionally, the distinguished name (also known as DN) of the item that you are trying to import must be in the first column of the .csv file or the import will not work.

The source .csv file can come from an Exchange Server directory export. However, because of the difference in attribute mappings between the Exchange Server directory and Active Directory, you must make some modifications to the .csv file. For example, a directory export from Exchange Server has a column that is named "obj-class" that you must rename to "objectClass." You must also rename "Display Name" to "displayName."

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/327620

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (32-bit x86)

Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003; Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-Bit x86); Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1; Windows Small Business Server 2003 Note: Nowadays Latest service pack 2 windows server 2003.