The main difference between Active Directory and the domain controller is that Active Directory is a directory service developed for Windows domain networks, while the domain controller is a server running in the Active Directory domain service.
Active Directory is a directory service that stores user information, network resources, files and other network objects. On the other hand, a domain controller is a server that responds to security authentication requests within a Windows Server domain.
Key Areas Covered
1. What is Active Directory?
– Definition, functionality
2. What is the domain controller
– Definition, functionality
3. Difference between Active Directory and the domain controller
– Comparison of key differences
Key terms
Active Directory, Active Directory Domain Service, Domain, Domain Controller
Difference between Active Directory and the domain controller – Comparison Summary
What is Active Directory?
Active Directory is a directory service developed by Microsoft. It has information about users, computers, resources such as files, folders and printers. It usually works as a phone book. Therefore, organize users and resources into groups. The Windows Server operating system consists of Active Directory as a set of processes and services. In addition, it uses the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol version 2 and 3, the Microsoft version of Kerberos and DNS.
Difference between Active Directory and the domain controller
Active Directory Services consist of multiple directory services, which are called Active Directory Domain Services.
Active Directory Terms
Objects are physical entities of a network that can be described by a set of attributes. Then, a container object consists of other objects such as users, computers, etc. In addition, the main security object has objects capable of performing authentication and assigning permissions. In addition, it has unique global identifiers (GUI) and security identifier (SID). A domain, on the other hand, is a logical grouping of objects. In other words, it is an administrative limit. In addition, it is not necessary that all objects be present in the same physical location. A domain tree is a tree structure arranged to a primary domain and a secondary domain structure.
Another important term in Active Directory is a forest. It has the highest level of safety limit. It contains objects such as domain, users and network resources. In a forest, it is only possible to exchange information between objects within the forest. In other words, objects in a forest can communicate with objects in another forest when there is trust at the forest level. In addition, a forest can consist of one or more domains or a collection of domains or domain trees.
In addition, Organization Units are a unit that appears only within a domain. Represents a department, team or function. It contains objects such as users, groups and shared folders. The organizational units within a specific domain are connected to each other.
What is the domain controller?
The domain controller is a server that helps authenticate users and authorize their access to various IT resources. These resources include files, systems, applications and networks. A collection of resources is a domain. The task of the domain controller is to ensure that only the correct users access the resources. In addition, the purpose of designing a domain controller initially was to work with Microsoft environments with the active directory serving as the central identity provider.
The domain controller works with directory service databases called Identity Provider that stores information about usernames and passwords. Therefore, the identity provider helps the domain controller verify users.
First, the system allows the user to enter the username and password. Send this information to the domain controller. Then, the domain controller authenticates them with the directory service database. If the user entered details and the credentials stored in the directory service are the same, the domain controller allows the user to access the resource. Otherwise, the domain controller prevents the user from accessing the resource.
Difference between Active Directory and the Domian controller
Active Directory is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. On the contrary, the domain controller is a server that responds to security authentication requests (login, permission check
Note: If you find this article helpful, then you should not forget to comment and share it. This will encourage me and my team to write more good technical articles. Thanks !!!!!!