By using the Active Directory® Domain Services (AD DS) server role, you can create a scalable, secure, and manageable infrastructure for user and resource management, and provide support for directory-enabled applications such as Microsoft® Exchange Server.
AD DS provides a distributed database that stores and manages information about network resources and application-specific data from directory-enabled applications. A server that is running AD DS is called a domain controller. Administrators can use AD DS to organize elements of a network, such as users, computers, and other devices, into a hierarchical containment structure. The hierarchical containment structure includes the Active Directory forest, domains in the forest, and organizational units (OUs) in each domain.
Organizing network elements into a hierarchical containment structure provides the following benefits:
- The forest acts as a security boundary for an organization and defines the scope of authority for administrators. By default, a forest contains a single domain, which is known as the forest root domain.
- Additional domains can be created in the forest to provide partitioning of AD DS data, which enables organizations to replicate data only where it is needed. This makes it possible for AD DS to scale globally over a network that has limited available bandwidth. An Active Directory domain also supports a number of other core functions that are related to administration, including network-wide user identity, authentication, and trust relationships.
- OUs simplify the delegation of authority to facilitate the management of large numbers of objects. Through delegation, owners can transfer full or limited authority over objects to other users or groups. Delegation is important because it helps to distribute the management of large numbers of objects to a number of people who are trusted to perform management tasks.
Security is integrated with AD DS through logon authentication and access control to resources in the directory. With a single network logon, administrators can manage directory data and organization throughout their network. Authorized network users can also use a single network logon to access resources anywhere in the network. Policy-based administration eases the management of even the most complex network.
Additional AD DS features include the following:
- A set of rules, the schema, that defines the classes of objects and attributes that are contained in the directory, the constraints and limits on instances of these objects, and the format of their names.
- A global catalog that contains information about every object in the directory. Users and administrators can use the global catalog to find directory information, regardless of which domain in the directory actually contains the data.
- A query and index mechanism, so that objects and their properties can be published and found by network users or applications.
- A replication service that distributes directory data across a network. All writable domain controllers in a domain participate in replication and contain a complete copy of all directory information for their domain. Any change to directory data is replicated to all domain controllers in the domain.
- Operations master roles (also known as flexible single master operations or FSMO). Domain controllers that hold operations master roles are designated to perform specific tasks to ensure consistency and eliminate conflicting entries in the directory.
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