Chapter 9 - Active Directory Infrastructure Overview

Abstract

The chapter describes directory services, and provides a brief background of the directory services standards and protocols. The chapter discusses how the Active Directory works, and explains the terminology and concepts required to understand the Active Directory infrastructure. It also focuses on how the directory is structured into sites, forests, domains, domain trees, and organizational units (OUs). A directory allows accounts and resources to be organized in a logical, hierarchical fashion so that information can be found easily. By searching the directory, users can find the resources they need, and administrators can control and configure accounts and resources easily and effectively. Keeping the information in a centralized location ensures that users and administrators do not have to waste time looking at what is available on each server; they only have to refer to the directory.