Active Directory is a way for administrators to connect to Windows-based IT resources. Active Directory or AD is a directory service and identity provider. AD allows IT to manage and secure applications and Windows-based systems, and it stores information about network objects.
Network objects include systems, users, groups, digital assets, and applications, among other items. AD also helps manage the relationships these network objects have with one another.
The following are some other things to know about Active Directory and how it works.
An Overview
Active Directory is a Microsoft product. The purpose is to provide oversight to all the devices and users in your Windows environment, and it’s a key element of Windows Server. Windows Server runs local and Internet-based servers.
There’s also something called Active Directory Domain Services, an area controller storing all the client and PC data. It will arrange and check certifications and also determine access rights. The directory service runs on Microsoft Windows Server.
When Active Directory Domain Services is installed on a server, it’s a domain controller that stores the Active Directory Database. The Active Directory Database contains a hierarchy of objects as well as how they relate to one another.
Administrators with AD can enable permissions and control access to resources, which is the big takeaway.
Hierarchical Structure
Active Directory Domain Services organize data in a structure that includes the following:
- Domains: The domain is a group of objects, like users, that share the same Active Directory database. Sometimes, the illustration of a tree branch is used. A domain has the same structure as regular domains and their sub-domains.
- Trees: this part of the Active Directory structure is one or more domains are grouped logically. Since the domains making up a tree are related, they “trust” each other.
- Forest: A forest is the highest Active Directory level of organization, and it’s a group of trees, as you might guess. The trees making up a forest trust each other, and they share things like domain configurations and application information.
- Organizational units: This is a way to organize units like users and groups.
What’s AD and What’s Not
Active Directory is sometimes likened to Single Sign-On (SSO) before it existed. That meant that Active Directory could provide a single sign-on experience because users got centralized access to all the Windows resources in the database. These resources were all on-premises and at least connected to the domain.
Now what’s considered SSO is a lot different from this, and SSO as we know it currently came from the inability of Active Directory to authenticate users into web apps. Even when Active Directory is in use, it’s frequently supplemented with a single sign-on web application tool.
SSO is extended to the more comprehensive, expensive True SSO because they have IT resources all over geographic locations.
Is AD Software?
Active Directory is a type of Microsoft software licensed through client access license.
Most organizations need additional components to run AD, such as VPN, high availability, and security solutions.
Active Directory is not a server, but it does require a Windows server for operation.
Active Directory is also not a database, but it contains a database. It again stores the users, groups, devices, and policies in the network.
The Limitations
There are several core limitations to AD.
For example, there is a maximum number of objects that can be applied.
There are limits on users, groups, and computer accounts.
You can’t perform more than a certain number of operations per LDAP transaction when you’re writing scripts for an LDAP transaction.
As a result of limitations and other factors, for a seamless IT environment, you might want to back up Active Directory.
Otherwise, if you don’t back it up, there’s a very real risk you could have to set it up again, plus it will disrupt business continuity.
Employees can’t access the resources they need until your Active Directory is rebuilt.
A few things to keep in mind with Active Directory infrastructure include the importance of changing your default security settings and always using principles of least privilege in roles and groups.
If you don’t change the default security settings, you’re at risk of a cyber-attack. As far as least privilege, you need to make sure you’re reducing the potential attack surface by giving employees the lowest level of access necessary to perform essential job duties.
You should similarly control admin privileges and limit accounts in the Domain Admins group and regularly patch AD.