Active Directory Essay

Abstract
To use the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server operating system with maximum effectiveness, you must first understand what the Active Directory™ directory service is. Active Directory, new in the Windows 2000 operating system, plays a major role in implementing your organization's network and therefore in accomplishing its business goals. This paper introduces network administrators to Active Directory, explains its architecture, and describes how it interoperates with applications and other directory services.
Introduction
Gaining an understanding of the Active Directory™ directory service is the first step in understanding how the Windows® 2000 operating system functions and what it can do to help you meet your enterprise goals. This paper looks at Active Directory from the following three perspectives: * Store. Active Directory, the Windows 2000 Server directory service, hierarchically stores information about network objects and makes this information available to administrators, users, and applications. The first section of this paper explains what a directory service is, the integration of Active Directory service with the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS), and how Active Directory is actualized when you designate a server as a domain controller1. * Structure. Using Active Directory, the network and its objects are organized by constructs such as domains, trees, forests, trust relationships, organizational units (OUs), and sites. The next section in this paper describes the structure and function of these Active Directory components, and how this architecture lets administrators manage the network so that users can accomplish business objectives. * Inter-communicate. Because Active Directory is based on standard directory access protocols, it can interoperate with other directory services and can be accessed by third-party applications