What is Active Directory?

AD is a directory service developed by Microsoft.

But what is directory service anyway?

• A directory service is kind of centralized database
• For storing, organizing, and maintaining information about users, computers, groups, resources, etc

Common examples of directory services includes:

• X.500
• LDAP-based directories (e.g., OpenLDAP)
• Microsoft's Active Directory

Furthermore:

• AD manages enterprises-wide data (users, computers, groups, printers) from a central repository
• Data in AD can be globally distributed and accessed selectively as needed
• AD implements LDAP v3 and fully supports LDAP-based queries and authentication

Figure 1. Minimilistic AD structure.

Articles recommended by the author

• Active Directory Installation Guide
• Getting started with LDAP

References

• https://amaharjan.de/getting-started-with-ldap/
• [DRAL08] B. Desmond, J. Richards, R. Allen, and A. G. Lowe-Norris, Active Directory: Designing, Deploying, and Running Active Directory. O’Reilly Media, Inc., 2008.