 | This articlerelies excessively onreferences toprimary sources. Please improve this article by addingsecondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "Windows domain" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(January 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
AWindows domain is a form of acomputer network in which alluser accounts, computers, printers and othersecurity principals, are registered with a central database located on one or more clusters of central computers known asdomain controllers. Authentication takes place on domain controllers. Each person who uses computers within a domain receives a unique user account that can then be assigned access to resources within the domain. Starting withWindows Server 2000,Active Directory is the Windows component in charge of maintaining that central database.[1] The concept of Windows domain is in contrast with that of aworkgroup in which each computer maintains its own database of security principals.
Computers can connect to a domain viaLAN,WAN or using aVPN connection. Users of a domain are able to use enhanced security for their VPN connection due to the support for acertification authority which is gained when a domain is added to a network, and as a result,smart cards anddigital certificates can be used to confirm identities and protect stored information.
In a Windows domain, the directory resides on computers that are configured asdomain controllers. A domain controller is a Windows orSamba server that manages all security-related aspects between user and domain interactions, centralizing security and administration. A domain controller is generally suitable for networks with more than 10PCs. A domain is a logical grouping of computers. The computers in a domain can share physical proximity on a smallLAN or they can be located in different parts of the world. As long as they can communicate, their physical location is irrelevant.
Where PCs running a Windows operating system must be integrated into a domain that includes non-Windows PCs, thefree software packageSamba is a suitable alternative. Whichever package is used to control it, the database contains the user accounts and security information for the resources in that domain.
Computers inside anActive Directory domain can be assigned intoorganizational units according to location, organizational structure, or other factors. In the original Windows Server Domain system (shipped withWindows NT 3.x/4), machines could only be viewed in two states from the administration tools; computers detected (on the network), and computers that actually belonged to the domain. Active Directory makes it easier for administrators to manage and deploy network changes and policies (seeGroup Policy) to all of the machines connected to the domain.
Windows Workgroups, by contrast, is the other model for grouping computers running Windows in a networking environment which ships with Windows. Workgroup computers are considered to be 'standalone' - i.e. there is no formal membership or authentication process formed by the workgroup. A workgroup does not have servers and clients, and hence represents thepeer-to-peer (or client-to-client) networking paradigm, rather than the centralized architecture constituted by Server-Client. Workgroups are considered difficult to manage beyond a dozen clients, and lack single sign on, scalability, resilience/disaster recovery functionality, and many security features. Windows Workgroups are more suitable forsmall or home-office networks.
