Linux® and Windows® Interoperability Guide

Microsoft Domains

Microsoft security is defined with a domain. We will first describe Windows NT 4.0 domains and then the Windows 2000 domain model. A Windows domain is like an NIS domain. It represents a security accounts database similar to the /etc/passwd file in Linux. The distinction is that while /etc/passwd supports users logging into a single computer, Microsoft domains (and NIS) support users logging in from any computer directly related to the domain. Computers join into and become part of a Windows domain. Computers have accounts in the security accounts database, and if the computer is not in the domain database, it cannot log on to the domain, nor can someone from that computer log on to the domain. When Windows is installed on a ...