Active Directory cannot exist without a functioning DNS service. Although Microsoft
does provide and recommend using its own DNS service, you can use another
vendor??™s service provided it supports SRV records (although you can??™t take advantage
of all the integrated features that Microsoft??™s DNS service provides). With Active Directory,
you are also not limited to creating trust relationships between domains. You can
set up entire domain trees, and those trees can be combined into forests. This is especially
advantageous when setting up relationships between separate organizations, such as
between business partners or during mergers and acquisitions.
Since its debut, Active Directory has undergone tremendous changes, many of which
were in response to feedback Microsoft received from user communities regarding Active
Directory??™s performance in real-world scenarios. For example, when Windows Server 2003
was released, it added a host of new functionality to the already existing Windows 2000
Active Directory. This included features that allowed you to rename domain controllers,
add them using backup media, rename entire domains, and minimize network traffic by
replicating changes only to groups rather than to the entire group membership list whenever
a user is added to or removed from it. Windows Server 2008 goes a step further; we
will explore all these new features in this chapter, as well as how Windows Server 2008 can
fit into your organization.
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