Jason Wells
NT 1230
Unit 8 Assignment 2

Active Directory Benefits

Multimaster replication and sites One of the benefits of an Active Directory environment is the concept of sites and multimaster replication. In Windows NT, when you make a change to the SAM (Security Accounts Manager), the change is applied directly to the PDC (Primary Domain Controller) and is later replicated to each BDC (Backup Domain Controller). In an Active Directory multimaster replication environment, each domain controller contains a copy of Active Directory, not just the information for a single domain. Therefore, when a change is made to Active Directory, the change is applied to whatever domain controller is the closest, and is then replicated to the remaining domain controllers. This prevents a designated PDC (Primary Domain Controller) from being overburdened.
A better representation of the network
Centralization sums up a primary reason for implementing Active Directory. The Active Directory structure makes it possible for you to achieve truly centralized management of users, regardless of how big the client’s network has become. In Windows NT a domain is a completely independent entity, and while it's possible to create a trust relationship between domains that exist on a common network, the domains are never truly integrated with each other because there is no higher authority that manages the domains. With Active Directory, this is possible.
Organizational Structure
The domain level is the highest level of abstraction in Windows NT, but the highest level of abstraction in Windows 2000 and 2003 Server is the “forest,” which is basically a collection of domains. Microsoft chose to call this (Active Directory) a forest because you can place domains into the forest, and you can place entire trees of domains into it. A domain tree consists of a parent, child, grandchildren,