Updated: July 9, 2020 (February 4, 2008)

  Analyst Report Archived

AD Changes in Windows Server 2008

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1,828 wordsTime to read: 19 min
Michael Cherry by
Michael Cherry

Michael analyzed and wrote about Microsoft's operating systems, including the Windows client OS, as well as compliance and governance. Michael... more

Every major release of Windows Server updates the Active Directory (AD) service, which maintains information about the server, users, computers, and applications, and the release of Windows Server 2008 is no exception. Under the AD banner, it collects many formerly separate identity and access-management services and feature packs. Although few organizations are likely to benefit from all the new features, most organizations will find at least one improvement valuable.

New Names for Services and Feature Packs

In Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has applied the AD label to several well-known services: directory, federation, certificate, and rights management. The services themselves are not new; they are present in Windows Server 2003 R2 or available as feature packs. All of the following services will ship with Windows Server 2008.

Active Directory Domain Services is the new name for AD, the Windows OS directory service introduced in Windows 2000, that runs on Windows domain controllers.

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