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The next two chapters examine the directory services known collectively as the Active Directory. This is one of the new breed of metadirectories, and so it is integral to the Windows Server 2003 operating system's infrastructure, security, and maintenance. First introduced in Windows 2000, Active Directory has been refined for Windows Server 2003. Active Directory is supported only in the Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter Editions of Windows Server 2003.
Because of the volume of information that must be covered to properly explain the Active Directory technology, our review spans this chapter and Chapter 6, "Active Directory Management and Use." An understanding of the conceptual underpinning of the Active Directory and how it can be managed is fundamental to Windows Server system administration.
After reading this chapter, you should have a working knowledge of the following Active Directory concepts:
The role of directory services— the function of the Active Directory and an identification of some of its important features for system administrators.
Active Directory logical structure components— the role of domains, domain trees, forests, and organizational units.
Active Directory physical structure components— the role of sites and domain controllers.
Active Directory schema— how the Active Directory schema defines object classes and attributes.
Open standards support and naming conventions— the Active Directory's use of open standards like DNS and LDAP together with its employment of the most common naming conventions to ensure interoperability.
Migration and application programming interfaces (APIs)— the support provided for the migration and/or integration of the Active Directory with other directory services such as Novell's NDS and API options available for both third-party application development and administrative scripting.
The Global Catalog and replication services— the new Global Catalog feature and the directory replication services.
Security and trust relationships— the roles of domains, trees, and forests with respect to security and trust relationships.
Administrative delegation— how the Active Directory structure lends itself to very granular resource management and the delegation of system administration authority.
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