Active Directory is a common repository for information about objects that reside on the network, such as users, groups, computers, printers, applications, and files. The default Active Directory schema supports numerous attributes for each object class that can be used to store a variety of information. Access Control Lists (ACLs) are also stored with each object, which allows you to maintain permissions for who can access and manage the object. Having a single source for this information makes it more accessible and easier to manage; however, to accomplish this requires a significant amount of knowledge on such topics as LDAP, Kerberos, DNS, multimaster replication, group policies, and data partitioning, to name a few. This book will be your guide through this maze of technologies, showing you how to deploy a scalable and reliable Active Directory infrastructure.

Windows 2000 Active Directory has proven itself to be very solid in terms of features and reliability, but after several years of real-world deployments, there was much room for improvement. When Microsoft released Windows Server 2003, they focused on security, manageability, and scalability enhancements. Windows Server 2003 R2 takes this evolution further and combines Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 with some feature packs, which makes Windows Server even more secure, manageable, and scalable and also adds considerable new functionality, such as a stand-alone LDAP server service and increased Unix system integration functions right in the box.

Windows Server 2008 introduces some highly sought-after features to Active Directory. At the top of the list for many administrators will be such features as read-only domain controllers, support for Server Core, and fine-grained password policies. The list of new features and major enhancements is lengthy, and we have taken the time to cover them all in this book.