What is Active Directory?

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What is Active Directory?
Active Directory is Microsoft’s very own directory service. This refers to a system intended for managing computer directories. With Active Directory, one may be able to store information, organize data, and manage access rights to a particular directory. This directory service was said to be developed and created by Microsoft back in 1996 but was first introduced in Windows 2000.

Active Directory serves many functions in a typical computer network. One such feature is the centralization of network administration and security concerns. With the AD feature on the Microsoft platforms, network administrators will have more ease in network management. Security concerns are also addressed with the ability to manage access rights and connections to a particular directory. In this way, users may be required to log in and give their access passwords before information can be viewed and/or modified. Network administrators also do not have to worry in terms of updates on program and applications on multiple servers or computer terminals. With Active Directory, these server updates may be synchronized for faster and easier network management. Like in the case of large companies with multiple user terminals, administrators won’t need to make software updates to each and every terminal connected to the network. With the help of Active Directory, software updating is done only once on the centralized administrator terminal.

Active Directory is an essential part in large computer networks as it helps not only in data storage and management, but it also provides security to all information stored in a particular network. With its first release on Windows 2000, Active Directory has been revised for succeeding Windows Server versions including the 2003 and 2008 R2 versions. Although the use of Active Directory is highly technical and requires the expertise of network administrators, many large companies still implement it to address the needs of their large network.

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