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, since version 4.0 can act as an AD, too. 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. 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.