Chapter 16 -- Introduction to Active Directory Directory Service

Chapter 16

About This Chapter

A directory service is used to uniquely identify users and resources on a network. Active Directory directory service 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 management, allowing you to add, remove, and relocate users and resources easily. This chapter introduces you to Active Directory and the administration tasks and administrative tools used to manage the service.

The primary Active Directory administration tasks are configuring and administering Active Directory, administering users and groups, securing network resources, administering the desktop computing environment, securing Active Directory, managing Active Directory performance, and installing Windows 2000 remotely. The primary Windows 2000 Active Directory administration tools are the Active Directory administrative tools, Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-ins (available in the Administrative Tools Start group), and the Task Scheduler (available in Control Panel).

Before You Begin

To complete this chapter, you must have

• Installed Windows 2000 Server on a computer (Server01)

  See chapter 8, "Installing Microsoft Windows 2000" for more details.

• Experience logging on and off Windows 2000