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.
Active Directory is built around Domain Name System (DNS) and lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) — DNS because it is the standard on the Internet and is familiar, LDAP because most vendors support it. Active Directory clients use DNS and LDAP to locate and access any type of resource on the network. Because these are platform-independent protocols, Unix, Macintosh, and other clients can access resources in the same fashion as Windows clients.
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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.
Active Directory is built around Domain Name System (DNS) and lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) — DNS because it is the standard on the Internet and is familiar, LDAP because most vendors support it. Active Directory clients use DNS and LDAP to locate and access any type of resource on the network. Because these are platform-independent protocols, Unix, Macintosh, and other clients can access resources in the same fashion as Windows clients.
Active directory (sometimes referred to as an AD) does a variety of functions including the ability to provide information on objects, helps organize these objects for easy retrieval and access, allows access by end users and administrators and allows the administrator to set security up for the directory.
An active directory can be defined as a hierarchical structure and this structure is usually broken up into three main categories, the resources which might include hardware such as printers, services for end users such as web email servers and objects which are the main functions of the domain and network.
Active directory is directory service introduced with MS Windows 2000 Server that acts as a central repository for all the objects in a network, includes share files, applications, devices and computers in a domain. It makes easy to administer, to find resources for administrator and user both in a large network.
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