Active Directory Basics

Active Directory is a system that allows to manage a set of computers and users connected in the same network from a central server.

It was first introduced on Windows 2000.

Components of AD:

Domain Services:

Domain services are the core components of AD,responsible for managing authentication and authorization of users and computers in a network.This includes Domain Controllers,Domains and Trusts.

Domain Controller:

It is a server that runs Active Directory Domain Services(ADDS) role.

It stores user account information manage authentication and authorization requests, and replicates changes to other domain controllers in the same domain.

Domains:

Domains are logical groups managed by an administrative team and typically located on the same physical network. They include users, computers, OUs etc.

A domain can have multiple domain controllers to provide redundancy and fault tolerance.

Tree:

A tree is a collection of domains in a Active Directory Domain Services(AD DS)

A top domain in the domain tree is know as parent domain and all other domains are know as child domain.They have parent child relationship.

An AD DS tree consists of multiple domains connected by two-way transitive trusts by default.

Forests:

A forest is a collection of one or more domain trees.

The name of the forest is the same as the name of the root domain of the tree.

In a forest, each domain has its own database and its own Domain Controllers. However, users of a domain in the forest can also access to the other domains of the forest.

Organizational Unit(OUs):

Organizational Unit is a logical component of Active Directory that contains users,groups,computers and other OUs.

OUs are used to manage a collection of objects in a consisten way and delegate permissions to administer group of objects.

Trusts:

The users can access to other domains in the same forests because they are linked by connections called Trusts.

A trust can be Transitive or Non Transitive.

A non transitive trust can only be used by the two sides of the trust, the trusting and the trusted. Whereas a transitive trust can act as a bridge and being used for third domains connected with the domains that are connected by the transitive trust.

Thank you all for reading. Happy Learning :)