Lesson 1.1: What Active Directory is
Active Directory (AD) is the directory most organisations use to manage Windows identities: one database, replicated across domain controllers, holding every user, computer and group, and the place where logons are decided. That makes it the most valuable target in a company network: whoever controls AD controls everything joined to it. In the lab you connect from a Linux admin workstation with your Kerberos ticket, explore the domain's structure with ldapsearch, count its objects and identify the domain controllers.
16 min
You will learn to
- Explain domains, domain controllers, OUs and objects
- Read distinguished names
- Query AD with ldapsearch and a Kerberos ticket
- Count users, computers and groups
- Find the domain controllers
Key terms
- Domain / forest
- A domain is a security boundary of users, computers and policies with one database; a forest is one or more domains that trust each other.
- Domain controller (DC)
- A server holding a copy of the AD database and answering logons.
- OU
- Organisational unit: a container for objects, used to delegate administration and apply Group Policy.
- Distinguished name (DN)
- The full path of an object in the directory.
- LDAP
- Lightweight Directory Access Protocol: how tools query and change AD (ports 389/636).
- userAccountControl
- A number whose bits describe an account: disabled (2), password not required (32), normal (512), password never expires (65536), DC (8192), no Kerberos pre-authentication (4194304)…
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