Windows Server® 2012 Unleashed

Keeping a Distributed Environment in Sync

When Microsoft originally developed Active Directory in Windows 2000 Server, it was designed to be the only directory an organization would ever need. The idea was that all services would be centralized within an organization’s Active Directory environment and that applications would use it as their own directory.

As information technology developed, the exact opposite effect happened; a proliferation of directories within organizations occurred. Not only were multiple directories created within applications, but many organizations deployed multiple Active Directory forests for security reasons.

As Active Directory matured, Microsoft saw a need to tie these directories together into a single, federated ...