MCSA/MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-270): Installing ...

1-20 Chapter 1 Introduction to Windows XP Professional
Lesson Summary
■ To explain how workgroups work, you must know the following things:
❑ A Windows XP Professional workgroup is a logical grouping of networked
computers that share resources such as files and printers.
❑ A workgroup is referred to as a peer-to-peer network because all computers
in the workgroup can share resources as equals (peers) without a dedicated
server.
❑ Each computer in the workgroup maintains a local security database, which is
a list of user accounts and resource security information for the computer on
which it resides.
■ To explain how domains work, you must know the following things:
❑ A domain is a logical grouping of network computers that share a central
directory database containing user accounts and security information for the
domain.
❑ This central directory database, known as the directory, is the database portion
of Active Directory service, which is the Windows 2003 directory service.
❑ The computers in a domain can share physical proximity on a small LAN or
can be distributed worldwide, communicating over any number of physical
connections.
❑ You can designate a computer running Windows Server 2003 as a domain
controller. If all computers on the network are running Windows XP Professional,
the only type of network available is a workgroup.