ACTIVE DIRECTORY

What is Active Directory?

 

Active Directory is a directory service. The term directory service refers to two things — a directory where information about users and resources is stored and a service or services that let you access and manipulate those resources.

 

Active Directory is a way to manage all elements of your network, including computers, groups, users, domains, security policies, and any type of user-defined objects. It melds several NT services and tools that have functioned separately so far — User Manager for Domains, Server Manager, Domain Name Server — and provides additional functions beyond these services and tools.

 

 

What are the Fundamentals of Active Directory?

 

1. If a client wants to access a service or a resource, it does so using the resource’s Active Directory name. To locate the resource, the client sends a standard DNS query to a dynamic DNS server by parsing the Active Directory name and sending the DNS part of the name as a query to the dynamic DNS server.
2. The dynamic DNS server provides the network address of the domain controller responsible for the name. This is similar to the way static DNS currently operates — it provides an IP address in response to a name query.
3. The client receives the domain controller’s address and uses it to make an LDAP query to the domain controller. The LDAP query finds the address of the system that has the resource or service that the client requires.
4. The domain controller responds with the requested information. The client accepts this information.
5. The client uses the protocols and standards that the resource or service requires and interacts with the server providing the resource.

Active Directory Schema

The Active Directory Schema is the set of definitions that defines the kinds of objects—and the types of information about those objects—that can be stored in Active Directory. Because the definitions are themselves stored as objects, Active Directory can manage the schema objects with the same object management operations used for managing the rest of the objects in the directory. There are two types of definitions in the schema: attributes and classes. Attributes and classes are also referred to as schema objects or metadata.