Active Directory Fundamentals
Core Concepts, Architecture, and Administration of Active Directory
What's Included:
Key Highlights
- Clear explanation of domains, trees, and forests
- Authentication and authorization demystified
- Group Policy logic explained step by step
- Practical user, group, and computer management
- Security fundamentals and hardening principles
- Common mistakes and how to avoid them
- Real-world administration workflows
Overview
Learn Active Directory fundamentals from the ground up. Understand domains, forests, authentication, Group Policy, security, and daily administration with clear explanations and real-world examples.
The Problem
Many IT professionals manage Active Directory without fully understanding its architecture. This leads to insecure configurations, poor Group Policy design, authentication issues, and operational complexity that grows over time.
The Solution
This book explains Active Directory from first principles—domains, authentication, policies, and security—so you understand how everything fits together and can manage AD with confidence.
About This Book
Understand Active Directory from the Inside Out
Active Directory Fundamentals provides a clear, structured introduction to the core concepts, architecture, and administration of Active Directory in modern Windows environments. Active Directory is the backbone of enterprise identity, authentication, and access control in organizations worldwide.
Many administrators manage AD without fully understanding how its components interact, leading to fragile designs, security risks, and operational issues. This book changes that by teaching you how Active Directory actually works.
What You Will Learn
- What Active Directory is and why it exists
- Domains, trees, and forests: the AD hierarchy
- AD objects: users, computers, groups, and organizational units
- How Kerberos authentication works in AD
- Authorization and access control fundamentals
- Domain controllers: roles, replication, and placement
- DNS integration and AD's dependency on DNS
- Group Policy fundamentals and processing order
- Sites, subnets, and AD replication topology
- Daily administration tasks: user creation, password resets, group management
- Security fundamentals: privileged accounts, Kerberos delegation, AdminSDHolder
- Hardening Active Directory: basic security measures
- Troubleshooting common AD issues
- Preparing for hybrid identity with Azure AD
Who Is This Book For?
This book is designed for IT professionals learning Active Directory. It is ideal for:
- Windows administrators new to Active Directory
- Help desk staff advancing to AD administration
- IT professionals preparing for Microsoft certifications
- Anyone who manages Windows environments
- Professionals moving into security or identity roles
Why This Book?
This book focuses on explanation before automation. You will learn why Active Directory behaves the way it does, leading to better design decisions and fewer mistakes in production.
Prerequisites
Basic Windows administration knowledge is helpful.
Author: Evan R. Whitlock
Who Is This Book For?
- Junior system administrators working with Active Directory
- IT support staff moving into server administration roles
- Windows Server administrators who want deeper AD understanding
- Security professionals needing AD fundamentals
- Students and career switchers entering enterprise IT
Who Is This Book NOT For?
- Admins looking only for advanced PowerShell automation
- Readers seeking cloud-only Entra ID / Azure AD coverage
- Experts already designing complex multi-forest environments
Table of Contents
- What Active Directory Is and Why It Exists
- Active Directory Components Overview
- Domains, Trees, and Forests
- Active Directory Objects
- How Authentication Works
- Authorization and Access Control
- Domain Controllers Explained
- DNS and Active Directory
- Introduction to Group Policy
- Applying and Managing Group Policies
- Managing Users and Computers
- Group Management Strategies
- Active Directory Security Fundamentals
- Hardening and Operational Best Practices
- Day-to-Day Active Directory Administration
- Troubleshooting Active Directory Issues
- Active Directory and Modern IT
- Learning Path Beyond Fundamentals
Requirements
- Basic understanding of Windows operating systems
- Interest in system administration or IT infrastructure
- No prior Active Directory experience required
