- Managing active directory domain services objects password#
- Managing active directory domain services objects series#
- Managing active directory domain services objects windows#
Common types of AD objects include users, computers, applications, printers and shared folders. The Active Directory database (directory) contains information about the AD objects in the domain. We will talk a little about forests in the post on Active Directory management, in the backup and recovery section, since organizations need to plan for large-scale disaster recovery as well as the recovery of individual objects in a domain. We’ll mostly be talking about AD domains in these blog posts, because that’s where management takes place. For instance, if you have multiple disjointed business units, you probably want to create multiple forests.
Managing active directory domain services objects series#
This blog post series is focused on on-premises Active Directory, but Quest has many resources to help you understand Azure AD and tools for hybrid Active Directory security and governance. AD and Azure AD are separate but can work together to some degree if your organization has both on-premises and cloud IT environments (which is called a hybrid deployment). Microsoft environments in the cloud use Azure Active Directory, which serves the same purposes as its on-prem namesake. While we’re on the topic of where AD lives, it’s important to understand that Active Directory is only for on-premises Microsoft environments.
Managing active directory domain services objects password#
Changes made to the directory on one domain controller - such as a user changing their password or a user account being locked out for too many incorrect passwords - are replicated to the other domain controllers so they all stay up to date. (I’ll explain what a domain is in just a second.) Organizations normally have multiple DCs, and each one has a copy of the directory for the entire domain. The servers that run AD DS are called domain controllers (DCs).
Managing active directory domain services objects windows#
However, they do support Active Directory, so any Windows computer can be part of an Active Directory environment. Desktops, laptops and other systems running the regular version of Windows do not run AD DS.
The main Active Directory service, Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), is a feature of the Windows Server operating system. Does my computer have Active Directory on it? Now you know what Active Directory is and why we say it’s the heart of any Microsoft IT environment! But if you’re interested in more details about how it’s structured and how it works, read on for the answers to many common questions about AD. In particular, they make sure each person is who they claim to be (authentication), usually by checking the user ID and password they enter, and allow them to access only the data they’re allowed to use (authorization).
Ever try to look up a term (like, say, Active Directory), only to get a definition that’s so complex and convoluted that you have to go look up all the words in it, and then half of the terms in those definitions, until you feel like you’re trapped in an infinite regress - and you’re more confused than when you started?