Learning the Basics of Active Directory

4 min readSep 25

Introduction

Microsoft’s directory service, Active Directory, is among the best in the industry. The vast majority of businesses rely on it as a single location from which to access and update data on networked things. Active Directory (AD) is in charge of, or is primarily used for, user and computer authentication and authorization in Windows domain-based systems. It offers a wide range of services and capabilities for managing identities in today’s networks.

Within an Active directory domain, a company might set up different departments for things like sales, human resources, marketing, etc. Each user account must have a distinct username, which is now the responsibility of the company. PC-01 is only one example of a computer object that needs to be added to the network so that everything is in its proper place. It is now the job of an active directory to check a user’s credentials (username and password) against the stored information whenever the user attempts to log in. Access to the permitted resources is granted if the user’s credentials are valid.

This AD’s advantages include the facilitation of group policy implementation and other administrative tasks. A robust password policy, or one that requires password rotation, will need to be implemented. One of the best opportunities with AD is single sign-on. This means that users only need to remember a single set of login credentials in order to gain access to any AD-connected resources. The RBAC can also be made available to the user.

To resolve names, Active Directory mainly utilizes the Domain Name System (DNS). Domain Name System (DNS) records are relied upon to track down server nodes and other network assets. When it comes to user access, security, and access restrictions, it is sometimes necessary for businesses to build trust connections with other domains or trusted partners. Let’s talk about zero trust and active directory in IAM.