Active Directory Cookbook (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between Active Directory and LDAP? ›

The difference between LDAP and Active Directory is that LDAP is a standard application protocol, while AD is a proprietary product. LDAP is an interface for communicating with directory services, such as AD. In contrast, AD provides a database and services for identity and access management (IAM).

Best-practice Active Directory domain names consist of one or more subdomains that are combined with a top-level domain that is separated by a dot character ("."). The following ones are some examples: contoso.com. corp.contoso.com.

The main difference between a Domain Controller and an Active Directory, is that an Active Directory (AD) manages your identity and gives secure access while Domain Controllers verify your authority. Consider this example: To log in to your computer, you must first verify your identity and establish your authority.

Does LDAP work without Active Directory? Yes. The LDAP protocol can be used to access and manage directory services on platforms besides Windows, including Linux, AIX, Solaris and HP-UX.

LDAP is a directory services protocol. Active Directory is a directory server that uses the LDAP protocol.

Active Directory is still included in the successor to Windows Server 2022 with the current designation Windows Server vNext and is not marked as “outdated”.

Active Directory (AD) is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. Windows Server operating systems include it as a set of processes and services. Originally, only centralized domain management used Active Directory.

Microsoft Entra ID is the new name for Azure AD. The names Azure Active Directory, Azure AD, and AAD are replaced with Microsoft Entra ID. Microsoft Entra is the name for the product family of identity and network access solutions. Microsoft Entra ID is one of the products within that family.

The best way to practice Active Directory would be to set up a test environment on your own computer or on a cloud-based platform such as Microsoft Azure. Azure offers a free trial that allows you to set up virtual machines (VMs) running Windows Server, which would be suitable for practicing Active Directory.

Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) domains have two types of names: Domain Name System (DNS) names and NetBIOS names. In general, both names are visible to end users. The DNS names of Active Directory domains include two parts, a prefix and a suffix.

What is the most important server in Active Directory called? ›

The main Active Directory service is Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), which is part of the Windows Server operating system. The servers that run AD DS are called domain controllers (DCs).

An Active Directory (AD) tree is a collection of domains within a Microsoft Active Directory network. The term refers to the fact that each domain has exactly one parent, leading to a hierarchical tree structure. A group of AD trees is known as a forest.

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is a protocol that applications can use to speak to directory services such as Active Directory. The LDAP protocol queries user information to read, modify or update it. During user authentication, LDAP can bind to the directory service database, such as Active Directory.

You can enable LDAP on your AD server. I work with several devices that use this feature all through AD. You won't get Group Policy features, but you will get passwords and user accounts and your password policy so you can log in to any device that supports LDAP using your Windows/AD user id and password.

LDAP has two main goals: to store data in the LDAP directory and authenticate users to access the directory. It also provides the communication language that applications require to send and receive information from directory services.

Does Active Directory use LDAP or Kerberos? Active Directory supports both LDAP and Kerberos for authentication, and more often than not, these two protocols are used together. Kerberos is the default authentication and authorisation protocol used by Active Directory as it is more secure.