When you configure CentraSite to use Active Directory or LDAP for user authentication, you map the user metadata from the authentication system to the User object in CentraSite. This enables CentraSite to import the metadata. For example, name, phone number, email address. This information is collected for a user from the external directory when you create an account for that user in CentraSite, this is a one-time import. CentraSite simply loads the appropriate metadata from the authentication system into its database. It does not attempt to keep the user metadata synchronized with the authentication system.

When you create user accounts in CentraSite, you can define the accounts individually or you can use the bulk load facility to import multiple users from the authentication system at one time.