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Active Directory

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Submitted By macjoe
Words 627
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Project- Windows 2012 Management
12/5/14

Active Directory is a directory service that Microsoft developed for Windows domain networks and is included in most Windows Server operating systems as a set of processes and services. An Active Directory domain controller authenticates and allows all users and computers in a Windows domain type network- assigning and enforcing security policies for all computers and installing or updating software. When a user logs into a computer that is part of a Windows domain, Active Directory checks the submitted password and determines whether the user is a system administrator or normal user. Active Directory makes use of Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) versions 2 and 3, Microsoft's version of Kerberos, and DNS. Active Directory, like many information-technology efforts, originated out of a democratization of design using Request for Comments or RFCs. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), which oversees the RFC process, has accepted numerous RFCs initiated by widespread participants. Active Directory incorporates decades of communication technologies into the overarching Active Directory concept then makes improvements upon them. Microsoft previewed Active Directory in 1999, it was first released with Windows 2000 Server edition, and revised it to extend functionality and improve administration in Windows Server 2003. Additional improvements came with Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2. With the release of the last, Microsoft renamed the domain controller role as Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). It is also included in Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2. An Active Directory structure is an arrangement of information about objects. The objects fall into two broad categories: resources and security principals (user or computer

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