Overview#

AD Forest is a complete instance of Microsoft Active Directory.

Each AD Forest acts as a top-level container in that it houses all AD DOMAIN containers for that particular Microsoft Active Directory instance.

AD Forest can contain one or more AD DOMAIN container objects, all of which share a common logical structure, Global Catalog, directory schema, and directory configuration, as well as automatic two-way transitive trust relationships.

The first AD DOMAIN in the forest is called the forest root domain. The name of that AD DOMAIN refers to the AD Forest, such as Nwtraders.msft.

By default, information in Microsoft Active Directory is shared only within the AD Forest. In this way, the AD Forest is a security boundary for the information that is contained in that instance of AD Forest.

More Information#

There might be more information for this subject on one of the following:

• Active Directory Functional Levels
• Directory Partition Hierarchy
• Domain Naming Master FSMO Role
• Forest Root Domain
• ForestFunctionality
• Global Catalog
• Internal Cross-References
• LAN Manager authentication level
• LDAP Query Examples for AD
• LDAP_MATCHING_RULE_DN_WITH_DATA
• NT LAN Manager
• PDC Emulator FSMO Role
• Partial Attribute Set
• Schema Directory Partition
• ServicePrincipalName
• Set Active Directory Password From Java