Patent ID: 7529777

Claim:
A method of restoring a directory service object attribute, the method comprising: receiving at a computer an identification of the directory service object attribute, wherein the directory service object attribute is restored for a set of two or more directory service objects, wherein each directory service object in the set corresponds to an entity and a given directory service object in the set includes information associated with the corresponding entity; in an event, the identification identifies the set of the two or more directory service objects for which the directory service object attribute is restored, selectively restoring the directory service object attribute for the set of the two or more directory service objects without restoring entire contents of at least one directory service object of the set of the two or more directory service objects, wherein the one or more directory service objects are stored in a memory, wherein a number of specifications of the identification of the directory service object attribute is less than a total number of objects in the set of the two or more directory service objects, and wherein a directory service backup data is used in the restoration of the directory service object attribute for the set of the two or more directory service objects, and the directory service backup data is organized in a format that allows an attribute of a backed up directory service object in the directory service backup data to be located without traversing the directory service backup data; and in an event, the identification does not identify any directory service object for which the directory service object attribute is restored, restoring the directory service object attribute for the one or more directory service objects that are associated with the directory service object attribute, including: traversing a complete set of directory service objects to determine which directory service objects are associated with the directory service object attribute, and restoring the directory service object attribute for directory service objects that are determined to be associated with the directory service object attribute.