‫So now let's talk
‫about Microsoft Active Directory
‫and this is not AWS just yet, but I will get to it.
‫So this is a simplified version
‫but Microsoft Active Directory or AD is found
‫on any windows server that has AD domain services.
‫And it's going to be a database of objects,
‫and these objects can be user accounts, computers, printers
‫file shares, security groups,
‫and with Microsoft Directory,
‫you have Centralized Security Management,
‫you can create your accounts,
‫you can assign permissions all within it.
‫So when would you have used Active Directory before?
‫Well, say for example, that you had a Windows laptop,
‫and you were connected to your corporate internet,
‫then you would have a Domain Controller
‫which defined that you, John, have a password,
‫maybe the password is password.
‫And so that means that if you log in
‫onto any of the machines, belonging to your company,
‫because they are connected to the Domain Controller,
‫you can use this combination of username
‫and password on password of any of these machines
‫allowing you to seamlessly use your log in
‫on too many different services or laptops and so on.
‫So this is a very, very high level
‫of what Active Directory is.
‫It's a way for you to manage users,
‫computers, printers, and so on,
‫usually within on-premises system.
‫Now, AWS is different
‫because it doesn't have active directory on it,
‫but you can extend Active Directory
‫using AWS directory services.
‫So you have three files on it
‫and to be honest, you don't really need know them,
‫but I just wanna give you an overview again
‫that what is possible on active on directory services.
‫So the first one is, AWS Manage Microsoft AD,
‫which is to create your own Active Directory in AWS,
‫where you can manage users locally,
‫and you have support for multifactor authentication.
‫If you have a on-premises Active Directory already
‫you can establish a trust between the two
‫and they will be joined together,
‫and they will be basically trusting each other.
‫So this is the first way to do Active Directory on AWS.
‫Then you have the AD connector, and this is a proxy,
‫that is going to redirect request originating
‫from AWS, to your on-premises AD,
‫and it supports multifactor authentication
‫but the users themself, they live on the on-premises AD.
‫So that means that you authorize into the AD connector
‫which is going to proxy request into your on-prem AD.
‫And finally, you have simple AD,
‫which is not Microsoft Active Directory,
‫but it's an Active Directory
‫compatible managed directory on AWS,
‫and it cannot be joined with an on-premise AD.
‫It would just be a simple standalone
‫Active Directory in the Cloud.
‫Now you don't need to know all these staff
‫going into the exam, this is more something
‫for the Certified Solutions Architect Associates,
‫or professional, but from a exams stand point
‫at the Cloud Practitioner Exam,
‫all you need to is know that Directory Services
‫is used whenever you hear about Active Directory
‫or Microsoft Active Directory.
‫So that's it, I hope you liked it.
‫And I will see you in the next lecture.