Pos 421 Week 2 Individual

Active Directory is a service created by Microsoft, which allows for Windows domain networks. This directory serves as a central location for security and administration (Microsoft.com, 2011). Each time a user logs into a computer the Active Directory verifies the user and permissions. Assigning and enforcing security policy along with installing/updating software on computers are all features of an Active Directory. To have a successful Active Directory it will need to meet all of the criteria. A company like Riordan Manufacturing is a great model that can use the assistance of an Active Directory.

One of the first items to look at with Riordan Manufacturing is the company network and location. Riordan Manufacturing has four branches; San Jose, CA, Albany, GA, Pontiac, MI, and Hangzhou China. Seeing that all four locations are spread out across the globe, the company would need four individual domains. Possessing a domain at each location would provide better security and allow for better management of the domain. Trying to utilize one single domain for all four locations would not be in the best interest for the company. The administrator would have a hard time with controlling the network, especially because the locations are spread throughout the world.

The four separate domains that are created would fall under a single forest. Since each domain becomes a tree, the collection of all four trees would be the forest. The forest provides logical structure, directory configuration, and security boundary (technet.microsoft.com, 2011). The security boundary is what lets users, computers, groups, and other objects accessible. By using separate domains with Active Directory forests the locations will avoid replicating data to places it is not needed and will allow the directory to scale globally over a network with limited bandwidth. Having one single forest will allow for various shared elements which include;

Schema – contains all the information about every...