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

14-3
One big advantage that Active Directory provides is a single logon point for all network
resources, so a user can log on to the network with a single user name and password,
and then access any resources to which the user account is granted access. An administrator
can log on to one computer and administer objects on any computer in the network.
Windows XP Professional provides a wide range of security settings that you can
enforce (you will learn all about them in Chapter 16, “Configuring Security Settings and
Internet Options”). You can enforce these settings locally by configuring them on each
computer (and that is the way you have to do it in a workgroup environment). In an
Active Directory environment, you can use a feature named Group Policy to enforce
settings on all computers on the network. This allows the network administrator to
make changes faster and improve network functionality without requiring user intervention
to invoke changes.
On the CD To learn more about how Active Directory provides single logon for network
users, view the multimedia presentation “How Active Directory Enables a Single Sign-On,”
which is included in the Multimedia folder on the CD accompanying this book.
Logical Structure of Active Directory
What makes Active Directory so configurable and so scalable is that it separates the
logical structure of the administrative hierarchy—which is made up of domains,
trees, forests, organizational units (OUs), and objects—from the physical structure of
the network itself. The logical structure of Active Directory does not rely on the physical
location of servers or the network connectivity throughout the domain. This
abstraction of the logical structure from the physical structure provides the powerful
ability to structure domains according to your administrative and organizational needs.
Because Active Directory separates the logical structure of network resources from the
physical structure of the network itself, it is useful to break the discussion of Active
Directory along those same lines. The logical components of the Active Directory structure
include the following (see Figure 14-1):
■ Objects
■ Organizational units
■ Domains
■ Trees
■ Forests
Lesson 1 Overview of Active Directory