In the previous post, Reading Data in Active Directory, we learned how to query Active Directory using OLEDB and .Net Directory Services. We learned that the OLEDB option is simple but has two big restrictions: we are limited to 1,000 objects in a search and we are restricted to single-valued attributes. We also learned how to get past those limitations using Directory Services.
In today’s post we begin our journey to create a data access layer for Active Directory that allows us to query Active Directory using a SQL-like syntax without the paging limit and without the single-valued restriction. Best of all this new data access layer will make it easier to integrate Active Directory management into all of our VS.Net products. When we are done we will use our new Active Directory Data Access Provider to easily construct our own custom, Active Directory Query Analyzer web page.
Larry Steinle 