Introduction

A core component of almost all organizations’ IT infrastructure is Active Directory (AD). AD provides access control, user and system customization, and a wealth of directory and other services. Microsoft first introduced AD with Windows 2000 and has improved and expanded the product with each successive release of Windows Server.

At the core is Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). Over the years, Microsoft has made “AD” more of a brand than a single feature. There are four additional Windows Server features under the AD brand:

• AD Certificate Services (AD-CS) - this allows you to issue X.509 certificates for your organization. For an overview of AD-CS, see https://docs.microsoft.com/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-r2-and-2012/hh831740(v=ws.11).
• AD Federation Services (AD-FS) - this feature enables you to federate identity with other organizations to facilitate interworking. You can find an overview of AD-FS at https://docs.microsoft...