Developing Business Intelligence Apps for SharePoint

Chapter 33. Active Directory

In every technology effort, there is a baseline of knowledge that is required to support a learning effort. It is virtually impossible to be an expert in all areas of a technology space. In the SharePoint space, one of the most overlooked supporting technologies that provides for the core of the Windows Networking Infrastructure is Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). Many technologists simply take the core of the AD DS for granted. It is generally recommended that SharePoint 2010 be run on servers in an Active Directory domain (and future versions actually require it). For components such as the User Profile Service to operate properly, a working knowledge of delegated permissions is required to ensure proper configuration in addition to other configurations such as the Service Connection Point to track installations of SharePoint within an Enterprise AD environment. All too many of us just never think about what is required to run Active Directory.

In this chapter, we discuss what it takes to set up, minimally configure, and operate Active Directory so that you as a SharePoint ITPro or developer can find the true value of your SharePoint BI experience through this book. We also help you understand the difference between Active Directory Managed Service Accounts and SharePoint Managed Service Accounts.

Before Setting Up Active Directory

Before you begin, make sure that your local administrator account has a password that meets Microsoft’s password ...