96
Appendix D: Active Directory Basics
atabase. Active Directory also solved
the problem of locating resources; which previously relied on Network
aging users and groups were among other
ctive Directory was built as a scalable, extensible directory service that was
eet corporate needs. A repository for storing user information,
ccounts, passwords, printers, computers, network information and other data,
ed.
an office
office users and
benefits ADS support provides include:
g office IT infrastructure
eges on an ADS server can be enforced
en the N3200PRO and
strator might
l of its ADS members.

Overview

With Windows 2000, Microsoft introduced Active Directory (ADS), which is a large
database/information store. Prior to Active Directory the Windows OS could not
store additional information in its domain d
Neighborhood, and was slow. Man
issues Active Directory solved.

What is Active Directory?

A
designed to m
a
Microsoft calls Active Directory a "namespace" where names can be resolv

ADS Benefits

ADS lets the N3200PRO integrate itself with the existing ADS in
environment. This means the N3200PRO is able to recognize your
ords on the ADS server. Other major passw
1. Easy integration of the N3200PRO into the existin
The N3200PRO acts as a member of the ADS. This feature significantly
lowers the overhead of the system administrator. For example, corporate
security policies and user privil
automatically on the N3200PRO.
2. Centralized user/password database
The N3200PRO does not maintain its own copy of the user/password
database. This avoids data inconsistency betwe
other servers. For example, without ADS support, an admini
need to remove a specific user privilege on the N3200PRO and each
individual server. With ADS support, the change on an ADS server is
known to al