New features of Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services

Gil Kirkpatrick, the CTO of NetPro, has been involved in the development of Active Directory software since 1996. He co-founded the popular Active Directory disaster recovery classes with Guido Grillenmeier from HP. Gil is also the founder of the directory Expert meeting (please go to www.dec2008.com).

Overview:

Use the new service Manager with ADDS

Running Domain Services on the Server Core

Read-only Domain controller

Change passwords, backups, and audits

Microsoft has demonstrated Active Directory to the world through Windows 2000. Next, Active Directory is greatly improved in this important version of Windows Server 2003, but nothing

Significant changes. Today, Active Directory® has become a powerful and extremely sophisticated directory service. Despite this, the Active Directory team continues to refine its functionality in the latest releases to improve the security and manageability of this core network service.

At the turn of the century, Active Directory is primarily about verifying users who log on, Group Policy on users and computers, and helping them find the printer they need. Only a few years later, Microsoft has released a separate, improved version called Active Directory application Mode (ADAM).

By the 2006, everything was a brand-new thing. Active Directory is no longer a specific technology. Now, it has become a brand name that represents a range of Windows® identity and access control services.

Figure 1 shows you an outline of the Active Directory branding component.

Figure 1 Active Directory components

Therefore, if you are using the appropriate terminology, you should refer to this article as a "domain Service" introduction. But in order not to confuse it, it should be called Active Directory, which has been a deep and commendable one since 2000.