Patent ID: 8145616

Claim:
A method comprising: preparing, by a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory server that performs search operations on an LDAP database, a response to a LDAP search operation on the LDAP database, the response preparation to include identifying at least one virtual attribute in the response; establishing, by the LDAP directory server, a hierarchy of priority of potential sources that can contribute the at least one virtual attribute, the hierarchy of priority comprising a ranking of the potential sources when compared to one another that results in a listing of the potential sources in their priority order; selecting, by the LDAP directory server, a highest ranking source in the hierarchy of priority that returns a data value, the selected source to contribute the at least one virtual attribute; identifying, by the LDAP directory server, information about the at least one virtual attribute, wherein the information comprises a distinguished name (DN) of the selected source that contributed the at least one virtual attribute and a listing of lower-priority entries in the hierarchy of priority that were overridden by the selection of the highest ranking source that returned a data value; placing, by the LDAP directory server, a virtual attribute source attribute (VASA) into the response as a separate attribute in the response from the at least one virtual attribute, the VASA including the identified information about the at least one virtual attribute; and transmitting, by the LDAP directory server, the response to a client.