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Task: Update directory service item attributes

With an LDAP directory service, directory service management always deals with directory service items, the attributes of these items and the values of the attributes. For instance, to make a user account a member of a group in Novell eDirectory, 2 attributes must be updated for both the user account and group directory service item.

When updating directory service item attributes, the item must already exist in the directory service. The following operations can be performed:

1. Add a value to an existing attribute;
2. Delete a value from an existing attribute;
3. Update the value(s) of an existing attribute;
4. Add an attribute and value to an directory service item
5. Delete an attribute and all values from a directory service item.

The following section lists the general procedure to update the directory service attributes:

1. Setup LDAP session: Connect to the LDAP Server and authenticate the directory service user account that is used to perform the update. Depending on the configuration, a secure session can be initialized;
2. Load LDAP modification data: Initialize all the attributes and attributes values that are required to update the directory service item. The exact attributes and values used vary for each directory service and are determined by the directory service schema;
3. Modify directory service object (LDAP): Modify one or more of the attributes of the existing directory service item using the LDAP modification data prepared in the previous step.

This document contains multiple examples to update attributes for Novell eDirectory, LINUX OpenLDAP and Microsoft Active Directory items.