Summary

This chapter covered the various aspects of deploying and managing AD DS. In this chapter, we explored the new features in Windows Server 2008 R2. We then looked at planning an AD deployment. We then walked through the process of installing a new AD DS server. After installing AD DS, we covered the various administrative efforts you need to consider when managing AD domains. This included administering users, computers, and groups and organizing them using OUs. We also covered how group policy can be used in your deployment to centrally manage user and computer settings to ensure consistency across computer configurations within your domain environment. We further explored other AD services such as Active Directory Certificate Services, Active Directory Federation Services, Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services, and Active Directory Rights Management Services. To conclude this chapter, we explored a few of the most commonly used Active Directory PowerShell cmdlets.