Microsoft’s Active Directory Security Feature

What is Microsoft's Active Directory?

Active Directory (AD) is a directory service created by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows sever operating systems. It serves as a central location for network administration and security. It is responsible for authenticating and authorizing all users and computers within a network of Windows domain type, assigning and enforcing security policies for all computers in a network and installing or updating software on network computers.

The security feature of Microsoft’s Active Directory includes:
· Delegation of administration
o User creation, manage users, groups, computer accounts and other objects.
· Directory object security.
o Per property access control
o Per property auditing
· Organization Units (OU) to organize the directory name space
o Users, groups, computers in separate containers





http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa-nt99/invited_talks/lieberman_html/sld069.htm


http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa746492(v=vs.85).aspx