Review the most commonly used Active Directory attributes and their LDAP attribute names.

The following table lists the most commonly used Active Directory attributes. For a complete list, the Active Directory administrator can view all available attributes in the Active Directory server.
Note: The Friendly Name is the name shown in Active Directory Users and Computers. Whereas Attribute Name is the Active Directory attribute name.

General tab

Name in Active Directory/ Friendly Name Attribute Name Example
User name cn (CommonName) George.Woods
Description description Marketing Manager
Distinguished Name distinguishedName DN attribute is a sequence of distinguished names that contains identifying information for an associated user, group, or object. For example, CN=George.Woods,OU=aae,CN=USERS,DC=domain.
Display name displayName George Woods
First name givenName George
Last name sn Woods
Email mail gwoods@domain.com
Initials initials GW

Group tab

Name in Active Directory/ Friendly Name Attribute Name Example
Groups memberOf 
CN=Managers,OU=Sales,DC=Domain,DC=Com

Account tab

Name in Active Directory/ Friendly Name Attribute Name Example
User Logon name (Pre W2K) sAMAccountName SJones
User principal name/Logon name userPrincipalName SJones@domain.com
User Account Control userAccountControl You can use the userAccountControl attribute to configure several account settings in Active Directory. The attribute values apply to flags that control password, lockout, turn on or turn off, script, and other behavior for the user account. For example, for the flag Disabled Account, the value in decimal is 514.

Organization tab

Name in Active Directory/ Friendly Name Attribute Name Example
Title title Manager
Object Class objectClass An object class is a defined grouping of attributes such as users, groups, computers, printers, and domain controllers.
Object Category objectCategory Objects attributes are a set of fields that define the mandatory and optional attributes that an object can have. For example, a user object in Active Directory will have attributes such as first Name, last Name, email address, department, and title.
Organizational unit name ou (Organizational Unit) OU=Sales,DC=example,DC=comDepartment:Sales