At the heart of NetTools is a LDAP client that includes a decode engine that will decode attributes so that the data can be displayed in a readable format. The decode engine includes over 80 predefined decode types. These decodes can be assigned to a specific attribute using four different methods.
These are Static, Dynamic, User Defined, and Manual Override:
The Static assignment are statically defined within NetTools, i.e. WhenChanged is associated to the GTFTIME decode type. These can be overridden by User Defined and Manual Override assignments. See Static DecodeTypes
While Dynamic will assign the decode type associated to an object based on the schema definition of the attributes. i.e. attributes that are binary and have a fixed length of 32 and guid in the name will automatically be assigned the GUID decode type.
User Defined assigned decode types can be assigned a few different ways in NetTools, from the LDAP Search's Manage Dynamic Attribute Decodes dialog, via the define decode type dialog from the context menu in the Schema Class Browser option, or via the configuration file.
NetTools.ini Example:
[AttributeDecodes]
msExchBlockedSendersHash=BIN
The Manual Override option is only available in the LDAP Search option, when specifying the attributes to be displayed, you can also include a Decode Type as an extra parameter of the attribute, this will overridce all other methods and display the attribute using the specified DecodeType i.e. msExchBlockedSendersHash;bin. This will display the attribute data in a Binary format.
This is the list of Decode Type that are available in NetTools:
DEFAULT - ASCII
64DATE - Win32 64bit Date Format
64TIME - Win32 64bit Date & Time Format, local time
64TIME_UTC - Win32 64bit Date & Time Format, UTC
ATTRIBENUM - predefined enumerate
ATTRIBENUM_NONUM - predefined enumerate only symbolics are displayed
BASE64 - encode the returned value as Base64
BEROID - Basic Encoding Rules (BER) Organization Identifier
BIN - Binary output
CERT - Certificates
COUNT - Returns the number of entries in the attribute
CRL - Certificate Revocation List
DNSPROPERTY - DNS Properties entries
DNSRECORD - DNS entries
DNSRECORD.DATA - return only the data field
DNSRECORD.RANK - return only the rank field
DNSRECORD.SERIAL - return only the serial field
DNSRECORD.TIMEOUT - return only the timeout field
DNSRECORD.TIMESTAMP - return only the timestamp field
DNSRECORD.TTL - return only the ttl field
DNSRECORD.TYPE - return only the type type field
DNSRECORD.VERSION - return only the version field
DSA_SIG - DSA Signature
FILETIME - Win32 File Date & Time Format
GTFTIME - Generalized Time Format, local time
GTFTIME_UTC - Generalized Time Format, UTC
GMSAPWD - return the full details of the gMSA password
GMSAPWD.PWD_B - return only the current password in byte hex format
GMSAPWD.PWD - return only the current password
GMSAPWD.PPWD_B - return only the previous password in byte hex format
GMSAPWD.PPWD - return only the previous password
GMSAPWD.QRY - return the query interval
GMSAPWD.UCG - return the change interval
GMSAPWDID - return the full gMSA PasswordID details
GMSAPWDID.RK - return the gMSA PasswordID Root Key
GMSAPWDID.SVR - return the gMSA PasswordID server
GPLINKS - used to display the list of DNs in the gplink attribute
GUID - Windows COM GUID format
GUID_LDAP - GUID in LDAP filter format
GUID_RAW - Hex GUID format
HEX - Display a number if Hex format
IP - DWORD IP address in windows order
IPN - DWORD IP address in network order
META - Decoder for msDS-ReplAttributeMetaData
METAP - Decoder for replPropertyMetaData
METAV - Decoder for msDS-ReplValueMetaData
MSTRUST - Decoder for msds-TrustForestTrustInfo
NANOTIME - Display interval based on nano seconds
NTDS_CONN_OPT - Returns the options for the Options of NTDSConnection
NTDS_DSA_OPT - Returns the options for the Options of NTDSDSA
NTDSSSITE_OPT - Returns the options for the Options of NTDS Sites Settings
PARENTCN - Returns the parent container of the CanonicalName
PARENTDN - Returns the parent container of the distinguishedName
PERIOD - Certificate renewal period
PSMTP - Display primary smtp entry
PWDSEC - Password secounds
PX400 - Display primary x400 entry
PX500 - Display primary x500 entry
REPL_UTDV - NC Up ToDateness Vectors
REPS_INFO - Replication neighbours RepsTo and RepsFrom
RIDPOOL - RID Pool Allocations
SD - Security Descriptor in SDDL format
SD_DACL_COUNT - Returns the number of ACE in the DACL
SD_DACL_EXPCOUNT - Returns the number explicitly assigned ACE in the DACL
SD_NAME - Returns the resolved names of all the entries in the SD
SD_NAME_DACL - Returns the resolved names of the DACL entries in the SD
SD_NAME_GROUP - Return the primary group assigned in the SD
SD_NAME_OWNER - Returns the resolved name of the owner in the SD
SD_NAME_SACL - Returns the resolved names of the SACL entries in the SD
SD_SACL_COUNT - Returns the number of ACE in the SACL
SD_SACL_EXPCOUNT - Returns the number explicitly assigned ACE in the DACL
SD_SID - Returns the SID of all entries in the SD
SD_SID_DACL - Returns the SID of the DACL entries in the SD
SD_SID_GROUP – Returns the primary group assigned in the SD
SD_SID_OWNER - Returns the SID of the Owner in the SD
SD_SID_SACL - Returns the SID of the SACL entries in the SD
SID - Display Security Identifier in text form
SID_ABS - Display the absolute name of the SID
SID_REL - Display the relative name of the SID
SITE_LINK_OPT - Returns the options for the Options of SiteLink
SIZE - The size of the data returned
SMTP - Display only smtp entries
TRANSPORT_OPT - Returns the options for the Options of transport container
UNICODE - Return a string in Unicode format, with BOM decode support
WMITime - Returns the wmi time
WMITime_UTC - Returns the utc wmi time
X400 - Display only x400 entries
X500 - Display only x500 entries
A debug option exists that will display which Decode Type was used to decode the displayed attributes, the debug information is only displayed in the LDAP Search text output pane. This debug feature can be enabled by selecting the Enable Decode Debug option in the Attribute Decodes dialog or by added the following entry to the NetTools.ini configuration file.
[SavedOptions]
DebugDecoder=true
