Terms and Abbreviations
A
Access Control Entry (ACE)
Element in an Access Control List (ACL).
Access Control List (ACL)
Collection of ACE's defining permissions on shares, files/directories, etc.
Active Directory (AD)
Directory service developed by Microsoft. Samba version 3 could only be member of an AD as file server, Samba since version 4 can also be Domain Controller of an AD. For a detailed description, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Directory.
Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC)
It is an MMC snap-in for managing e. g. user and computer accounts.
B
Backup Domain Controller (BDC)
In an NT4 domain, the BDC is a computer having a copy of the user and groups database. Changes are always done on the PDC. The Backup Domain Controller is only read-only. Changes are pushed from the PDC via Master-Slave-Replication to the BDC(s). In case of an outage of an PDC, a BDC can be promoted to an PDC.
Active Directory doesn't have PDCs/BDCs any more.
C
D
Distributed File System (DFS)
Please describe.
Domain Name System (DNS)
Hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services and resources connected to the Internet or private network. It translates easily memorized domain names to the numerical IP addresses. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System.
Domain
User accounts, computers and other security principals, that are registred and maintained within a central database. In an Active Directory domains can be connected via Trusts in a Tree or Forest.
Domain Controller (DC)
Server with Samba/Microsoft Active Directory services installed. A Domain Controller (DC) is authorative for the domain it is part of. AD DCs are doing multi-master replication.
An AD Domain Controller should not to be confused with PDC/BDC!
E
F
Forest
Please describe.
Fully qualified Domain Name (FQDN)
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fully_qualified_domain_name.
Flexible Single Master Operator (FSMO)
Please describe.
Functional Level
Please describe.
G
Global Catalog (GC)
Please describe.
Group Policy Object (GPO)
Please describe.
Group
Please describe.
Globally Unique Identifier (GUID)
Please describe.
H
Host
Please describe.
I
J
K
Key Distribution Center (KDC)
Please describe.
Kerberos
Please describe.
L
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
Please describe.
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol over SSL (LDAPS)
Acronym for LDAP over SSL.
LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF)
Please describe.
M
Microsoft Management Console (MMC)
Graphical interface for managing services and resources under Microsoft Windows. Snap-ins can be used for administering different Windows services, users, etc. An often used snap-in in an Active Directory environment is e. g. ADUC (Active Directory Users and Computers).
N
Namespace
Please describe.
Naming Context (NC)
Please describe.
NetBios
Please describe.
Network Time Protocol (NTP)
Please describe.
O
Object Identifier
Please describe.
Organizational Unit (OU)
Please describe.
P
Partition
Please describe.
Primary Domain Controller (PDC)
Please describe.
PDC Emulator
Please describe.
Q
R
Replication
Please describe.
Relative Identifier (RID)
Please describe.
Read Only Domain Controller (RODC)
Please describe.
RootDSE
Please describe.
Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT)
Please describe.
S
Security Account Manager (SAM)
Please describe.
Schema
Please describe.
Security Principal
Please describe.
Security Identifier (SID)
Please describe.
Site
Please describe.
Service Principal Name (SPN)
Please describe.
Snap-In
Please describe.
T
Tree
Please describe.
Trust
U
User Principal Name (UPN)
Please describe.
V
W
Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS)
Please describe.