Active Directory in Windows Server 2012

Windows Server 2012 includes significant improvements to Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). In addition to making AD DS easier to deploy and manage, improvements enable organizations to virtualize AD DS infrastructure more reliably. Despite the advantages of deploying the latest Windows Server AD DS, doing so introduces a possible concern: if the domain controller (DC) is the first Windows Server 2012 server in the organization, it may trigger the requirement to upgrade the organization’s Client Access Licenses.

AD DS Improvements

AD DS is an organization’s distributed database of users, computers, groups, and licenses. It plays a key role in authenticating users, controlling the user’s access to resources and applications, and applying consistent management of users and resources via policy. AD DS uses domains, which can span multiple physical locations, to create logical security and management boundaries for an organization’s IT infrastructure. Within a domain, DCs receive and replicate changes to the directory so that users and applications have access to up-to-date and consistent directory information.