Book Image

Mastering Active Directory

By : Dishan Francis
Book Image

Mastering Active Directory

By: Dishan Francis

Overview of this book

Active Directory is a centralized and standardized system that automates networked management of user data, security, and distributed resources and enables interoperation with other directories. If you are aware of Active Directory basics and want to gain expertise in it, this book is perfect for you. We will quickly go through the architecture and fundamentals of Active Directory and then dive deep into the core components, such as forests, domains, sites, trust relationships, OU, objects, attributes, DNS, and replication. We will then move on to AD schemas, global catalogs, LDAP, RODC, RMS, certificate authorities, group policies, and security best practices, which will help you gain a better understanding of objects and components and how they can be used effectively. We will also cover AD Domain Services and Federation Services for Windows Server 2016 and all their new features. Last but not least, you will learn how to manage your identity infrastructure for a hybrid-cloud setup. All this will help you design, plan, deploy, manage operations on, and troubleshoot your enterprise identity infrastructure in a secure, effective manner. Furthermore, I will guide you through automating administrative tasks using PowerShell cmdlets. Toward the end of the book, we will cover best practices and troubleshooting techniques that can be used to improve security and performance in an identity infrastructure.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)

Designing the domain structure

Every AD DS forest has at least one domain. When you set up your first domain forest, it is also set up as a default domain. There are a few reasons why you will need to consider having multiple domains in a forest:

  • Smaller administrative boundaries: Active Directory is capable of managing nearly 2 billion objects. Having a large directory creates administrative nightmares. Imagine managing a large herd of sheep. As it grows, shepherds need to put in more and more effort to manage it. Predators will also take advantage of it, and sometimes, shepherds may not notice missing sheep as they are too busy managing the herd. Instead of managing a large number of sheep together, isn't it easy if each shepherd manages smaller herds? Domains will help set smaller administrative boundaries and smaller management targets. This will help manage organization...