Active Directory is the directory service for Windows Domain Networks. It is used by many of today's top companies and is a vital skill to comprehend when attacking Windows.
It is recommended to have knowledge of basic network services, Windows, networking, and Powershell.
The detail of specific uses and objects will be limited as this is only a general overview of Active Directory. For more information on a specific topic look for the corresponding room or do your own research on the topic.
Active Directory is a collection of machines and servers connected inside of domains, that are a collective part of a bigger forest of domains, that make up the Active Directory network. Active Directory contains many functioning bits and pieces, a majority of which we will be covering in the upcoming tasks. To outline what we'll be covering take a look over this list of Active Directory components and become familiar with the various pieces of Active Directory:
All of these parts of Active Directory come together to make a big network of machines and servers. Now that we know what Active Directory is, let's talk about the why.
A domain controller is a Windows server that has Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) installed and has been promoted to a domain controller in the forest. Domain controllers are the center of Active Directory -- they control the rest of the domain. I will outline the tasks of a domain controller below: