What is active directory

If an organization has multiple locations, they may have a seperate domain for each one. For example, an international organization could have a domain for their London office, another one for their New York office, and a third one for their Tokyo office. A tree could be used to group all three of those domains as branches belonging to the same tree, so to speak.

An organization that has multiple trees could then group them into a forest. This is a core concept of Active Directory and can be complicated. A domain controller is any server that is running Active Directory Domain Services. At least one domain controller is necessary to use Active Directory, though most organizations have at least two per location.

Large, multinational organizations may require dozens of domain controllers across each of their physical locations in order to ensure high availability for their AD instance. Generally, DCs are thought of being tied to a physical office, which in the current remote work environment can be challenging. Individual users and their systems are connected to the domain controller through the network. When users request access to objects within the Active Directory Database, AD processes that request and either authorizes or prevents access to the object.

The authentication and access occurs seamlessly. But this concept begins to fall apart as non-Windows resources are introduced. It also struggles if users are remote and not physically attached to the domain — in this case, the end user will need to VPN into the network and be authenticated by the DC in order to gain access to their on-prem, Windows-based resources.

Note that Microsoft has also extended the concept of a domain to Azure. This domain is separate and distinct from the on-prem domains, although the two can be bridged through a variety of connective technology including Azure AD Connect and Azure AD.

We should also note that there is a new concept called the Domainless Enterprise , which is taking the approach of eliminating the domain concept, but still retaining the idea of securely and frictionlessly accessing IT resources wherever they may be. This concept is especially helpful for organizations that leverage web applications, cloud infrastructure, and non-Windows platforms e. When Active Directory Domain Services is installed on a server, it becomes known as a domain controller.

This server stores the Active Directory Database, which contains a hierarchy of objects and their relationship to one another. Active Directory is managed by an admin through a thick-client GUI graphical user interface that resembles the file manager in Windows pictured above.

This application runs on a Windows server and is not a modern browser-based application. Admins can point, click, and drag objects within AD and adjust their settings by right-clicking with the mouse and accessing the dropdown menu. The concept can be a great deal of work with a lot of moving parts: synchronize your on-prem AD with Azure AD Connect and you can connect your existing database of user identities and groups to Azure cloud-based resources.

By that, we mean that AD can provide a single sign-on experience for users by centralizing access to all Windows-based resources within the database. Further, those resources were all on-prem or at minimum connected to the domain. Today, many organizations still supplement their Active Directory with a browser-based web application SSO tool. However, new business requirements have driven the concept of SSO to now extend to devices, networks, file servers, and more, so the modern concept of SSO goes beyond just access to Windows resources or even web applications.

The concept of True SSO is even more expansive and highly relevant for modern organizations where users and their IT resources may be all over the world. Yes, Active Directory is software developed by Microsoft that is installed, maintained, and updated on Windows-based server hardware. The AD software is licensed through a concept called CALs client access licenses among other mechanisms.

Licensing for AD software can be quite complex, so discussing with a Microsoft reseller is your best bet. Further, the AD software and hardware is not a complete solution. Not exactly. That said, Active Directory requires a Windows server in order to function. A server running Active Directory Domain Services software is known as a domain controller — whether that server is physical hardware located on-prem or virtualized.

It would be more accurate to say that Active Directory contains a database. AD comes with a default schema, but administrators can modify it to suit business needs. Quest is the go-to vendor for Active Directory solutions. We can help you manage, secure, migrate and report on your AD environment to drive your business forward. Learn what it is, the benefits and downsides, and steps your organization can take to get started. Microsoft service accounts are a critical part of your Windows ecosystem.

Learn what they are and 10 best practices for managing them efficiently. Group Policy objects GPOs are prime targets for hackers.

Learn how and why they target this critical feature of your Active Directory environment. Learn how Azure AD Connect works, what data it syncs and best practices to apply when using it in your Active Directory environments. Overview Benefits Blogs Learn More. What is Active Directory? Learn what AD is and how it works Learn More. Organizations of all sizes all over the world use Active Directory to help manage permissions and control access to critical network resources.

But what exactly is it, and how can it potentially help your business? The main function of Active Directory is to enable administrators to manage permissions and control access to network resources. In Active Directory, data is stored as objects, which include users, groups, applications, and devices, and these objects are categorized according to their name and attributes.

Active Directory Domain Services AD DS are a core component of Active Directory and provide the primary mechanism for authenticating users and determining which network resources they can access. Please check your email including spam folder for a link to the whitepaper! AD DS organizes data in a hierarchical structure consisting of domains, trees, and forests, as detailed below.

Domains: A domain represents a group of objects such as users, groups, and devices, which share the same AD database. You can think of a domain as a branch in a tree. Skip to main content. This browser is no longer supported. Download Microsoft Edge More info.

Contents Exit focus mode. Is this page helpful? Yes No. Any additional feedback? Skip Submit. Submit and view feedback for This product This page.