Active Directory Domains and Directory Services

Every user, computer, and group in Active Directory is an object defined by a shared blueprint called the schema. This lesson explains what objects and attributes actually are, how the schema and global catalog make the directory searchable forest-wide, and how replication keeps every domain controller in sync.

A domain controller is the server that every Active Directory environment trusts to answer the question 'who are you, and what are you allowed to do.' This lesson explains what a domain controller actually holds, why that makes it the single most valuable target in any assessment, and how to recognize one on the network by the services it runs.

Active Directory is a directory server, and LDAP is the protocol that lets clients and applications talk to it. This lesson covers what a directory server actually stores, how LDAP binds establish who is asking, and why the difference between simple and SASL binds matters for security.

Active Directory nests domains inside trees and trees inside a forest, and each layer is defined by a different rule: administrative scope, DNS namespace, or shared schema. This lesson isolates that containment model so you can describe an AD topology precisely instead of using the three words interchangeably.

Every AD trust looks the same in a diagram: a line between two domains. But that line can mean five different things, each with a different origin and a different default risk profile. This lesson gives you the naming map so you can identify exactly what kind of trust you are looking at.