1. A computer-implemented method of configuring an attribute system and performing a global attribute search, the method comprising: a) in a system configuration phase: receiving a first user-actuated input in a distributed computing system that comprises multiple executable software applications, each of which processes data objects having data object identifiers and being stored in the distributed computing system, the data objects having attributes with attribute names and corresponding attribute values that are stored in at least two attribute repositories of an attribute system, the first user-actuated input identifying a first user-selected attribute having a first attribute name, the first user-selected attribute residing in a first attribute repository; receiving, in the distributed computing system, a second user-actuated input identifying a second user-selected attribute having a second attribute name, the second user-selected attribute being different than the first user-selected attribute and residing in a second attribute repository that is different than the first attribute repository; receiving, in the distributed computing system, a third user-actuated input that identifies a user-determined alias name that is to correspond to the first and second user-selected attributes; and storing in the attribute system an association between the user-determined alias name and the first and second user-selected attribute names; and b) subsequently in a system usage phase: receiving query input during execution of a global attribute search in at least two attribute repositories of the distributed computing system, the query input comprising at least one target alias name; identifying, in response to the query input, at least two attribute names corresponding to the target alias name and at least one data object having an attribute value matching the query input, wherein the identification comprises determining which of the attribute repositories to access to retrieve the at least two attribute names corresponding to the target alias name, the determination made using (i) an attribute registry having a hash table of attributes mapped to the first and second attribute repositories, and (ii) an alias mapping table, wherein the alias mapping table contains associations of the first and second attribute repositories with each other and with the target alias name; and providing output in response to the query input, the output comprising the identified at least two attribute names and the at least one data object having an attribute value matching the query input.