Appendix D: Active Directory Basics; Ove R Vie; W H A T Is Act Iv E D Ir E Ct Or; Ad S Be Ne F It - Thecus N8900 series User Manual

Appendix D: Active Directory Basics

Overview
Wit h Windows 2000, Micr osoft int roduced Act ive Direct ory ( ADS) , which is a large
dat abase/ inform at ion st or e. Prior t o Act ive Direct or y t he Windows OS could not
st or e addit ional inform at ion in it s dom ain dat abase. Act ive Direct ory also solved
t he pr oblem of locat ing resources; which pr eviously relied on Net w or k
Neighborhood, and was slow. Managing users and gr oups w er e am ong ot her issues
Act ive Direct ory solved.
What is Active Directory?
Act ive Direct ory was built as a scalable, ext ensible direct ory ser vice t hat was
designed t o m eet corporat e needs. A r eposit ory for st oring user inform at ion,
account s, passwords, pr int ers, com put er s, net w ork inform at ion and ot her dat a,
Microsoft calls Act ive Direct ory a " nam espace" wher e nam es can be r esolved.
ADS Benefits
ADS let s Thecus I P st or age int egrat e it self wit h t he exist ing ADS in an office
environm ent . This m eans t he Thecus I P st orage is able t o recognize your office
user s and passw ords on t he ADS serv er . Ot her m aj or benefit s ADS support
provides include:
1. Easy int egrat ion of Thecus I P st or age int o t he exist ing office I T
infrast ruct ure
The Thecus I P st orage act s as a m em ber of t he ADS. This feat ure
significant ly lowers t he ov erhead of t he syst em adm inist rat or. For exam ple,
corporat e securit y policies and user privileges on an ADS ser ver can be
enforced aut om at ically on Thecus I P st orage.
2. Cent ralized user/ passw ord dat abase
The Thecus I P st orage does not m aint ain it s own copy of t he user/ passw ord
dat abase. This avoids dat a inconsist ency bet w een Thecus I P st orage and
ot her ser vers. For exam ple, wit hout ADS suppor t , an adm inist rat or m ight
need t o rem ov e a specific user privilege on Thecus I P st or age and each
individual ser ver. Wit h ADS support , t he change on an ADS serv er is known
t o all of it s ADS m em bers.
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