Re: What is the Active Directory?

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Active Directory is what implements the Domain functionality from Windows NT on Windows 2000/Windows Server 2003 Domain Controllers.

The primary new pieces are LDAP (a data repository with a relatively simple query structure) and Kerberos (an authentication protocol). These were chosen as MS has been pushed over the years towards using more standards based interfaces. There are a ton of changes that this allows in the area of stability, scalability, extensibility, cross platform capability, and manageability while still allowing most legacy functionality to work correctly. If you don't mind forgoing some of the new functionality such as universal security groups and same group scope nesting legacy functionality is identical.

A lot of folks like to talk about GPOs and file replication when talking about AD. However that stuff isn't new, Microsoft has simply used AD to help further the technologies so they have more far reaching and intrusive capabilities to give you stronger capability to manage your environment. Note that GPOs are not actually an AD technology, they use AD like Microsoft Exchange uses AD.

Microsoft has moved from WINS as the primary name resolution mechanism and have focused instead on DNS. With AD you can set up a global DNS infrastructure that consists of all primaries and has secure updates (i.e. updates require authentication). However again, DNS is not an AD technology, it is just substantially enhanced when used with AD and AD has strong dependencies on it.

Any list of what AD can do or what it can do for you would necessarily be incomplete as the services can be used in all sorts of ways. Basically the answer to the question, what can AD do for me has an answer of it depends.

--
Joe Richards Microsoft MVP Windows Server Directory Services
www.joeware.net


Water Cooler v2 wrote: 
ok, I am being a little lazy and call me selfish, too, along with that.
Can someone give me a simple and brief explanation of what Active
Directory means. I've heard a lot about it for a long time but couldn't
spend a lot of time on reading LDAP and stuff. The stuff was also
presented in a not-so-easy-to-grok form.

Thanks.

.

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