Recommended Active Directory database size

[tmpotvin]

Good Morning,
I have been tasked with trying to add photos to Active Directory. I was
successful in doing this and the photos are 35KB. I have been trying to find
a standard size that an AD domain can grow to and what documentation there is
on this. I don't want to add 2100 photos and then have AD and our network
crash on us.

If someone could please guide me to the right location, it would be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks!

[Richard Mueller [MVP]]

Post by tmpotvin
Good Morning,
I have been tasked with trying to add photos to Active Directory. I was
successful in doing this and the photos are 35KB. I have been trying to find
a standard size that an AD domain can grow to and what documentation there is
on this. I don't want to add 2100 photos and then have AD and our network
crash on us.
If someone could please guide me to the right location, it would be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks!

This adds a lot to AD, and you would need to design an app to use it. Better
to keep the images somewhere else: image files in a folder, in an SQL Server
database, or even in ADAM. You could save url's or UNC paths to the images
in AD.

I have seen references to the Picture attribute (LDAP Display Name
"thumbnailPhoto"), although it is not recommended. See this link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292029

[tmpotvin]

Thanks for the quick reply!

We're actually using an app that we purchased that helped us keep user
information up to date in Exchange without giving users full blown access to
their profiles. Their recent update included the option to add photos, so
this is why I was asking.

I've contacted the vendor to see if they have another way of adding photos
instead of straight in to the AD database. This way there could be a link
put somewhere in AD and that will point to the photo location whether it's
just sitting on a share or in a DB.

If there are any other mechanisms that anyone can think of, please let me
know, but this gives me information that I can share with our teams as to why
it's proably not a good idea to put the photos in the AD DB.

Post by Richard Mueller [MVP]

Post by tmpotvin
Good Morning,
I have been tasked with trying to add photos to Active Directory. I was
successful in doing this and the photos are 35KB. I have been trying to find
a standard size that an AD domain can grow to and what documentation there is
on this. I don't want to add 2100 photos and then have AD and our network
crash on us.
If someone could please guide me to the right location, it would be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks!

This adds a lot to AD, and you would need to design an app to use it. Better
to keep the images somewhere else: image files in a folder, in an SQL Server
database, or even in ADAM. You could save url's or UNC paths to the images
in AD.
I have seen references to the Picture attribute (LDAP Display Name
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292029
--
Richard Mueller
MVP Directory Services
Hilltop Lab - http://www.rlmueller.net
--