Special Edition Using Microsoft Active Directory

Using the MMC

Virtually every management tool for Active Directory is a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in. These snap-ins are applications that run in the context of the MMC and are saved with a .msc extension. Although not specifically part of DNS or Active Directory, you will use the MMC throughout this book, so it makes sense to look at it briefly.

Default Consoles

You can open any number of Active Directory and DNS management tools by clicking the following:

• Start

• Programs

• Administrative Tools

You can then use Active Directory Users and Computers to manage Active Directory objects, use DNS to manage your DNS servers, and so on.

Creating Custom Consoles

You also can use mmc.exe to create your own customized MMC consoles. This enables ...