Chapter 1 -- Introduction to Active Directory

Chapter 1

About This Chapter

You use a directory service to uniquely identify users and resources on a network. Active Directory directory services in Microsoft Windows 2000 is a significant enhancement over the directory services provided in previous versions of Windows. Active Directory provides a single point of network resource management, allowing you to add, remove, and relocate users and resources easily. This chapter introduces you to Active Directory. As you read through the lessons in this chapter, keep in mind that the concepts introduced here will be examined in greater detail in later chapters as you learn how to design a directory services infrastructure.

Before You Begin

To complete this chapter, you must be familiar with basic administration and design concepts in Windows NT or Windows 2000.