Directory services

Cou

rse

ILT

Directory services

Unit objectives Describe Windows networking concepts Discuss planning of a directory services

“implementation” Describe and install Microsoft’s Active

Directory Discuss what’s new in Active Directory in

Windows Server 2003 Discuss the Windows NT domain model Explain the design and purpose of Novell

Directory Services / eDirectory

Cou

rse

ILT

Topic A

Windows networking concepts Directory services planning and

implementation Introduction to Active Directory New Active Directory features in

Windows Server 2003 Windows NT domains Novell Directory Services/eDirectory

Cou

rse

ILT

Workgroups Logical group of computers Decentralized security and administration

(every PC for itself!) In a workgroup, every computer holds its

own security database– Security Accounts Manager (SAM) database– This way, each computer does its own

authentication (i.e., ensure that the person logging in has the correct credentials).

Simple (sort of) Doesn’t require a server

Cou

rse

ILT

Workgroups Problems with Workgroups:

– The maximum effective size for a workgroup is 10 or so computers With more than 10 you will have problems

sharing resources, keeping track of security information and so on.

– In order to access resources on another computer you must, first log on to that PC.

– This means that you have to have a username and password for every PC

– A server in a workgroup does its normal jobs of sharing files, sending email, etc.

– A server is called a standalone server.

Cou

rse

ILT

Workgroup security model

Cou

rse

ILT

Domains Logical groups of computers Use centralized authentication and

administration The device in the domain responsible for

this is the “domain controller”, or DC

Cou

rse

ILT

Domain security model

Cou

rse

ILT

Member servers Not domain controllers but they run the

server software, not the client. Used for a variety of functions

– File servers– Print servers– Application servers– DNS and DHCP servers

A member server can backup the DC– it can be promoted to DC if the DC goes down– and a DC can be demoted to member server– But security functions are unique to the DC

Cou

rse

ILT

Recap Two different security models used in

Windows environments– Workgroup– Domain

Three roles for a Windows Server 2003 system in a network– Standalone server– Member server– Domain controller

Cou

rse

ILT

Domain controllers Store a copy of the Active Directory

database Service user authentication requests Service queries about domain objects The AD database is stored on network DCs Changes made to any Active Directory will be

replicated across all domain controllers– Called multimaster replication– Provides fault tolerance for domain controller failure

Uses Domain Name Service (DNS) conventions for network resources– i.e., this is how devices in the domain are recognized

Cou

rse

ILT

Activity A-1 - page 16-6

Discussing Windows security models

Cou

rse

ILT

Topic B




Cou

rse

ILT

Directory service (DS) Network service that allows users or

computers to look up information– location of files, – printers, – email addresses, – security information such as passwords,– rights and permissions, etc.

Microsoft’s directory service is called Active Directory (AD)

Cou

rse

ILT

Planning and Maintaining Infrastructure & Group policy

Planning your AD is emphasized– Consider bandwidth, location, resources, etc– Security issues include password issues

such as length, complexity and use time. Group policy is used to manage servers,

workstations, and user environments Used to deploy applications to computers

or users Used to implement security policies like

encrypting all client/server communication

Cou

rse

ILT

Activity B-1 - page 16-9

Planning and implementing directory services

Cou

rse

ILT

Topic C




Cou

rse

ILT

AD Features and Services Provides the following services

– Central point for storing & managing network objects– Central point for administering objects and resources– Logon and authentication services– Delegation of administration (to member servers)– Stored on domain controllers (plural) in the network– Changes made to any Active Directory will be

replicated across all domain controllers Multimaster replication Fault tolerance for domain controller failure

– Uses Domain Name Service (DNS) conventions for network resources (i.e., objects are arranged in a hierarchy)

Cou

rse

ILT

Active Directory Objects Represent network resources such as

users, groups, computers, and printers Objects have attributes depending on

object type Objects are searchable by attributes

Cou

rse

ILT

Creating a new user object

Cou

rse

ILT

Viewing user object properties

Cou

rse

ILT

Active Directory schema– Consists of two main definitions

Object classes Attributes Attributes and object classes have a many-to-many

relationship– The Schema defines all objects– It defines the attributes available for objects– The Schema defines the set of objects for the

entire Active Directory structure – Only one schema for a given Active Directory,

replicated across domain controllers

Cou

rse

ILT

Schema Elements used in the definition of each object

contained in the Active Directory, including the object class and its attributes– Unique object name– Globally unique identifier (GUID) associated with

each object name– Required attributes– Optional attributes– Syntax of how attributes are defined– Pointers to parent entities

Cou

rse

ILT

SchemaActive D irectory

Useraccount Computer Printer Domain

O bjectclasses

Object nam e GUID Required attributes Optional attributes Syntax Parent relationships

Usernam e User's full nam e Password

Account description Rem ote access OK

Schema

Sample schema information for user accounts

Cou

rse

ILT

GUID: A server-based Aside … Short for Globally Unique Identifier, a unique

128-bit number that is produced by the Windows OS or by some Windows application to identify a particular component, application, file, database entry or user.

For instance, a Web site may generate a GUID and assign it to a user's browser to record and track the session.

A GUID is also used in the Windows Registry to identify COM DLLs.

Knowing where to look in the registry and having the correct GUID yields a lot information about a COM object (i.e., information in the type library, its physical location, etc.).

Cou

rse

ILT

GUID: A server-based Aside Windows also identifies user accounts by

a username (computer/domain and username) and assigns it a GUID.

Some database administrators even will use GUIDs as primary key values in databases.

GUIDs can be created in a number of ways, but usually they are a combination of a few unique settings based on specific point in time (e.g: an IP or MAC address, clock date/time, etc.).

Cou

rse

ILT

Activity C-1 - page 16-13

Discussing Active Directory

Cou

rse

ILT

AD structure and components Active Directory comprises components

that: – Enable design and administration of a

network structure Logical Hierarchical

Components include:– Domains and organizational units– Trees and forests– A global catalog

Cou

rse

ILT

AD Domain and OU structure

Cou

rse

ILT

Trees and Forests Sometimes necessary to create multiple

domains within an organization The first Active Directory domain is the forest

root domain A tree is a hierarchical collection of domains

that share a contiguous DNS naming structure

A forest is a collection of trees that do not share a contiguous DNS naming structure

Transitive trust relationships exist among domains in trees and, optionally, in and across forests

Cou

rse

ILT

Domains & Organizational Units Domain

– Has a unique name– Is organized in hierarchical levels– Has an Active Directory replicated across its

domain controllers Organizational unit (OU)

– A logical container used to organize domain objects

– Makes it easy to locate and manage objects– Allows you to apply Group Policy settings– Allows delegation of administrative control

Cou

rse

ILT

An Active Directory treeThere is a “contiguous DNS naming structure” here; i.e., all of the OU’s in the tree on the right follow the same naming scheme – they all end with “Dovercorp .net

Cou

rse

ILT

An Active Directory forest There is no “contiguous DNS naming structure” here; i.e., the tree on the right follows a different naming scheme.

Cou

rse

ILT

AD naming standards: Namespaces

Contiguous namespace: – A namespace in which every child object

contains the name of its parent object - Tree

Disjointed namespace: – A namespace in which the child object

name does not resemble the name of its

parent object - Forest

Cou

rse

ILT

Multimaster Replication Multimaster replication: In Windows 2003

there can be multiple servers, called domain controllers (DCs), that store the Active Directory and replicate it to each other.

Because each DC acts as a master, its replication doesn’t stop when one is down.

Each DC is a master in its own right.

Cou

rse

ILT

Global Catalog An index and partial replica of most frequently

used objects and attributes of an Active Directory

Replicated to any server in a forest configured to be a “global catalog server”

Contains all information from the root and partial information for all other domains

Allows authentication using the User Principal Name ([email protected])

Cou

rse

ILT

Global Catalog (continued) Four main functions

1. Enable users to find Active Directory information 2. Provide universal group membership information3. Supply authentication services when a user logs

on from another domain4. Respond to directory lookup requests from

Exchange 2000 and other applications

Cou

rse

ILT

An Active Directory Forest

Cou

rse

ILT

Activity C-2 - Page 16-18,19

Discussing components of Active Directory

Cou

rse

ILT

Activity C-3 - page 16-20, 21

Installing Active Directory

Cou

rse

ILT

Active Directory naming standards Active Directory uses the DNS naming

standard for – hostname resolution – providing information on the location of

network services and resources Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

(LDAP) is used to query or update the Active Directory database– Distinguished name– Relative distinguished name

Cou

rse

ILT

AD Communications Standards The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

(LDAP) is used to query or update an Active Directory database directly

LDAP follows convention using naming paths with two components– Distinguished name: the unique name of an object

in Active Directory – Relative distinguished name: the portion of a

distinguished name that is unique within the context of its container

Cou

rse

ILT

LDAP Naming Paths Common name (CN):

– The most basic name of an object in the Active Directory, such as the name of a printer

Distinguished name (DN): – A name in the Active Directory that contains all

hierarchical components of an object, such as that object’s organizational unit and domain, in addition to the object’s common name.

– CN=JSmith, OU=Accounting, DC=pbcc, DC=edu

Relative distinguished name (RDN): – An object name in the Active Directory that has two

or more related components, such as the RDN of a user account name that consists of User (a container for accounts) and the first and last name of the actual user (CN=JSmith)

Cou

rse

ILT

AD Physical Structure Physical structure distinct from logical structure Physical structure relates to the actual

connectivity of the physical network A Logical structure used to organize

network resources Important to consider the effect of Active

Directory traffic and authentication requests on physical resources

A site is a combination of Internet Protocol (IP) subnets connected by a high-speed link

A site link is a configurable object that represents a connection between sites

Cou

rse

ILT

Site structure for Dovercorp.net

Cou

rse

ILT

Activity C-4 - page 16-24

Discussing Active Directory naming standards and physical structure

Cou

rse

ILT

Topic D




Cou

rse

ILT

New Active Directory features– Renaming domains

in case you misnamed a domain, to comply with new company policy The company is sold, buys another company or merges

– Improved migration tools E.g., from earlier versions, as from NT to 2000 or from 2000

to 2003. Makes deployment easier One feature of the “AD Migration Tool” (ADMT) is aimed

specifically at allowing passwords to be migrated between different OS versions.

– New management features Multi-object selection Better drag-and-drop capabilities Improvements in Group Policy

Cou

rse

ILT

Activity D-1 Page 16-27

Discussing deployment and management

Cou

rse

ILT

Activity D-2 - Page 16-28

Discussing performance and dependability

Cou

rse

ILT

Topic E




Cou

rse

ILT

Windows NT Domains Windows NT Server acts as the

Primary Domain Controller (PDC), providing centralized management of resources, user accounts, group accounts, permissions, and rights

Multiple domains – By using Trust relationships, you can set

up different types of domain models– The flexibility of these models is one of

the advantages of using Windows NT Server

Cou

rse

ILT

Trust relationships Provide a way of combining domains

into a single management unit Are of two types:

– One-way trust– Two-way trust

Cou

rse

ILT

Trust relationships, an example

Cou

rse

ILT

One-way trusts, an example

Cou

rse

ILT

Two-way trusts, an example

Cou

rse

ILT

Activity E-1 - Page 16-31

Discussing Windows NT and trust relationships

Cou

rse

ILT

Domain models Several domain models:

– Single– Master– Multiple master– Complete trust

Cou

rse

ILT

Activity E-2

Discussing Windows NT domains

Cou

rse

ILT

Topic F




Cou

rse

ILT

Bindery files In the earlier versions of NetWare,

bindery files were used to store information about users, groups, file servers, and other logical and physical entities on the network

Network information, such as passwords, account balances, and trustee assignments, were also kept in the bindery files

Cou

rse

ILT

Novell Directory Services/eDirectory

Replaces the bindery files Commonly referred to as the Directory

tree Can be organized the way your

organization is structured

Cou

rse

ILT

Objects and object classes

NDS objects – Objects represent items defined in the

NDS/eDirectory database– Objects are maintained globally for the

entire network NDS object classes

– The three classes of objects are root, container, and leaf

Cou

rse

ILT

NDS object classes

Cou

rse

ILT

Bindery emulation in the NDS To provide backward compatibility with

NetWare bindery applications and third-party bindery products, NetWare 4.x and 5.x and 6.x provide bindery emulation

The NetWare 3.x bindery consists of three files: – NET$OBJ.SYS – NET$PROP.SYS – NET$VAL.SYS

Cou

rse

ILT

Activity F-1

Discussing NDS/eDirectory

Cou

rse

ILT

Unit summary

Learned about Windows networking concepts

Discussed planning of a directory services implementation

Described and installed Microsoft’s Active Directory

Learned what’s new in Active Directory in Windows Server 2003

Discussed the Windows NT domain model Learned about the design and purpose of

Novell Directory Services/eDirectory

Documents

Directory services