Mastering Active Directory

Deciding domain and forest functional levels

Once the domain and forest designs are ready, the next step is to decide the forest and domain functional levels. Forest and domain functional levels define the AD DS features that can be used in the identity infrastructure. You cannot have AD DS 2016 features if your organization level is running on Windows Server 2012 domain and forest functional levels. When you add the domain controller to the existing forest or domain, it will automatically match the existing forest and domain functional level.

There are a few things you need to consider when deciding the forest and domain functional levels:

• Existing domain controllers: It is always good to run the latest and greatest functional levels, but ...