Introduction to Active Directory
Active Directory Installation
Some larger organizations take months (and in some cases, over a year) to plan a proper Active Directory design and get input from a global organization of technology leaders. It is extremely important to give a lot of thought to your AD design to ensure it meets your organization’s needs.
Choosing Your AD Layout
As we mentioned earlier, there are many ways you can structure your Active Directory. From a top level down perspective, most companies either start with a geographic separation or a organizational structure separation, for example Americas, EMEA, PacificRIM for geographic or Accounting, Marketing, Technology, Sales for organizational structure. It does not matter which you select: either will provide a fine starting point for your domain structure, but you need to ensure you pick one direction and be consistent with your choices.
Many organizations start with geography at the top level, then break down into business units or departments underneath that top level. It is important to write naming conventions and standards down so a team in Europe does not call an OU “SalesMarketing” while a team in North America calls an OU “Sales.” Consistency provides for an efficient and manageable Active Directory layout.
There are many different combinations you could choose when designing your AD structure.
Installation Requirements
In this section, we will look at the installation requirements of Active Directory. Installing AD isn’t a complex process, but the design and configuration can be.
Here are the requirements for installing Active Directory on Windows Server 2003:
· An NTFS partition with enough free space
· An Administrator’s username and password
· NIC with Network Connection
· Properly configured TCP/IP (IP address, subnet mask and – optional – default gateway)
· An operational DNS server (which can be installed on the DC itself)
· A Domain name that you want to use
· Windows Server 2003 CD media or the i386 Folder
Functional Levels
In Windows 2000, you chose from two levels: mixed mode or native mode. When Windows 2000 Server was introduced, NT 4 was still a popular server option. To ensure backward compatibility with these servers and clients, Windows 2000 defaulted to mixed mode where you could add Windows NT 4 servers to the Windows 2000 Active Directory domain.
Windows Server 2003 introduced functional levels – a set level of backward compatibility for previous operating systems. If you are in an environment with NT 4 servers and Windows 2000 servers which are still accessed, you can set a functional level to ensure backwards compatibility.
Windows 2003 expands from those two modes to one of many domain functional levels including Windows 2000 Mixed, Windows 2000 Native, Windows Server 2003 Interim, and Windows Server 2003. Also, in Windows Server 2003, you have three forest functional levels available: Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 Interim, or Windows server 2003. Each functional level brings new features available and lose compatibility with some set of servers or clients.
By default, Windows Server 2003 starts at Windows 2000 Mixed functional level. Not all of the features of 2003 are available in this mode, so if you are designing a new Windows 2003 AD environment, you will want to take advantage of the new features added in Windows Server 2003.
In Windows 2000, we referred to this change as “changing the mode,” but in Windows 2003, we now raise the functional level with either Active Directory Users and Computers or Domains and Trusts.
This change cannot be reversed – once you make a decision to raise the functional level, you cannot go back to a lower functional level.
Wounderful tutorial. Thak u very much
Very good tutorial, it may help me land a job. I needed a breif overview, before a job interview. Thanks A bunch!
I am really glad to be on this site.Thankyou verymuch and God Bless
I hit a jackpot….Yahooo..
Excellent tuturial. Real helpful to cover on the basics and build the knowledge. Thanks very much.
Am a student of MCITP. Can i down load free material on AD,ADDS,ADFS,LDAP,ADLSet.
a stepping stone i just needed. tx a lot
I found it interesting and informative…Thank you so much..
beautiful tutorial , this is just great it really sets the stage for higher learning.
Thank you so muuuuuch…. this realli realli… helped for ma interview…. God bless… : )
Was a great tutorial, Learnt a lot and indeed its a step forward to get more… Thanks alot
i really got lots of 9ledge from this site . gr888888888888888. God bless u.
very good
very interesting and helpfull.
very nice tutorial
Wonderful! This will help me at my hopefully new job! My only request is that yopu exapnd the section on the actuall interation with AD. THAAANK YOUUU!
Very nice! This will help me in a job intervju tomorrow. Cheers!
Good Job!!.. It’s really help full.
Wonderful tutorial. Very helpful, thanks 🙂
Easy and to the point, good for beginner to get clear picture of AD. Cheers
This really helps a lot. Thanks.
thnks its a great hepled
I thank you a bunch. It gave me a very clear idea about AD. God Bless.
thank u very much for the kind information
Excellent Job Done.
Thanks a lot for providing such useful information.
thank you !!!! very good tutorial
Wow, this is a wonderful tutorial,
Thank you soooo much. !
I am interested in learning Active Direstory. So kindly help me out.
It is very helpful to understand the basic. Thanx a lot.
Is there any way how to get this donwloaded? pls let me knw.. 🙂
nice article
Thank you, This was very informative. Just what I needed to better understand AD
I went through this in an hour! – Stupendous job! – Thanks much.
Superb tutorial… 🙂
A well structured sequential tutorial netwoking and AD services. Bravo Zulu!
Hey,
Is this downloadable in any way? Could really use it in my studys 🙂
Best Regards
awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the detailed information
thanks a lot .explained in a verysimple and lucid way.
good tutorial.
realy the teaching materail ver help full thaks
Thank you very much for briliant tutorial and such a resourceful site. Hats over
It’s helpful but i recommend you add a tutorial on Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Designing AD and Network Infrastructure to make it more complete for MCSE.
Thanks alot was really helpful in understanding AD a bit more…
wonderfull tutoriel.thank you very much
Its wonderful doc.. especailly on windows.. i suggest every one to go though it..
it was so wonderful tutorial….gave me a whole brief picture to AD…..in such good summary…thank you so much….hope i do get my 1st level help desk role now …cheers
Good Tutorial. Thanks a lot.
I am a beginner to AD, cause I’m trying to teach myself Windows server 2003 to prepare for Exam 70-290.
So far I am really please with what I’m reading cause it’s making me understand the concept of AD.
Could you please tell me if a CDrom or a DVD exist on this tutorial and how I can get it or is it possible to download or print this tutorial?
Thanks
It really helped thanks alot
Very informative and easy to read. Thank-You! x
God one. Thanks a ton!!!
Excellent work done on this website tutorial.
its brief, concise and hits on the point. I have had gone through couple of tutorials but this tutorial has wiped up all the misconceptions i had before.
Manythanks to all who have done exceptional work hard on this tutorial.
Thanks. this is a well prepared tutorial. easy to understand.
Great, i found it very informatic and it has expand my knowledge of AD.
Really nice. You did a great job. Congrats!
And thank you very much!!!
have some question here? what is the future of active directory in windows server 2003?
Fantabulous!!! Thanks to the mentor. Great Job!
thanks its complete toturial for active directory
Thanks a lot! Really great and easy to understand article!
Fantastic!
really good tutorial for beginners for active directory, thanks
Very Exhaustive tutotrial. A wonderful learning tool. Great Job.
I’m trying to understand Active Directory for an upcoming job interview. While Active Directory is not part of the job requirements, knowing a little more is a positive.
Thanks for this tutorial !
Brilliant tutorial, Thanks
Very good tutorial. Helped me alot to understand the AD.
Great tutorial, needed to update myself with Server 2003 features.. good work!