Special Edition Using Microsoft Active Directory

Introduction

Domains, trees, and forests are important concepts to understand when exploring Active Directory. So much of what you interact with is directly related to how early decisions were made with regard to the domain structure. But before you can really design an Active Directory implementation for your company or any other entity, you must get a firm grip on what exactly a domain is, what its relationship to a tree is, and why a forest exists.

This chapter looks at these items and discusses where they are used. However, because this whole discussion is based on logical concepts versus physical realities, there will be as many variations to the scenarios presented here as there are grains of sand in the Mojave Desert.