Introduction to active directory - Components of active directory

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What is Active Directory? Manage Active Directory

Active directory includes the information about the current directory objects like servers, computer accounts, printers and network users. Network directory was created by Microsoft to provide various network services. It is made up of many components like domain, objects, sites and files. The aim of the active directory is to provide delegation and control to network administrator.

Components of Active Directory

Active directory includes the rules, which helps in defining the classes of the objects contained in the directory. It can also define the constraints on the instances of the objects and guiding the arrangement of their names. Active directory also contains a global catalog which contains information about each and every objects present in the directory. The global catalog can help users to look for directory information regardless of the realm of the file. It also contains a query mechanism; therefore the properties of the objects can be located by the network users for various applications. Replication mechanism is a vital part of active directory which helps in distributing data throughout the network. All domain administrators participate in this process in order to receive the comprehensive copy of the directory information for their realm. Any change to the active directory information is automatically becomes the part of the replicated file.

Security of Active Directory

The security of the active directory is an important consideration. However it is not a very difficult task to do. The security of the active network directory is based on log on access, authentication and access control to the data and objects kept in directory. By using simple network authentication tool network administrator is able to handle entire network. All the authorize users can access the active directory and its objects form anywhere on the network. Network administration is a difficult task if there is no check and balance of directory resources and no surveillance against unauthorized users. It is important to build a policy based network. Using a proper policy would even help to handle very large and complex networks. The security features like interactive log on and authentication confirms the user’s active directory identification and then provides access to him/her.

Active directory Data Store

The directory service present in the active holds a data store. This data store amasses all the relevant and important directory objects. The other term used for this data store is directory. This directory is a pile up containing users and group’s information, domains, computers, security policies and organizational units. This directory is further stored on domain and can be accessed form network applications. Any domain can have more than one domain controller. Every domain controller has a duplicate copy o the directory which can be used by various authorize users. Therefore in order to update the directory and to make the desired changes. A network administrator can make necessary changes in the domain. The entire domain tree and even domain forest would benefit from it. Active directory stores data and objects in four separate partitions. These directory partitions contain domain, schema, and configuration and application data. The domain data holds information like email ID’s, user and computer account information; inherit resources of the users and the administrators. The configuration data handles topology management. Configuration data contains the list of domain objects like domain trees, domain forest and the list of global catalogs. Scheme data contains the official definition of object and attribute data. To be more precise it contains user and computer accounts, organizational units and security accounts. The application data handles the replication of information but not on the global scale. This application data is constructed, managed and configured by network or data administrator.