Windows Server® 2012 Unleashed

Domain Functional Level and Groups

There are four different domain functional levels, with each level adding more functionality. The reason for all the different levels is to provide backward compatibility to support domain controllers running on different platforms. This allows a phased migration of the domain controllers. The four domain functional levels are as follows:

• Windows 2000 Native—This domain level allows Windows 2000 or later domain controllers in the domain. Universal security groups can be leveraged, along with universal and global security group nesting. This level can be raised to Windows Server 2003 Native level, which also enables you to change some existing groups’ scopes and types on-the-fly.

• Windows Server 2003—This ...