Editing Windows domain (section)

{{Short description|Logical, hierarchical collection of security principles sharing a central directory database}}
{{About|a type of computer network|other uses of domain in Microsoft Windows|Domain (disambiguation)#Information technology{{!}}Domain § Information technology}}
{{primary sources|date=January 2010}}
A '''Windows domain''' is a form of a [[computer network]] in which all [[user account]]s, computers, printers and other [[Principal (computer security)|security principals]], are registered with a central database located on one or more clusters of central computers known as [[Domain controller (Windows)|domain controller]]s. Authentication takes place on domain controllers. Each person who uses computers within a domain receives a unique user account that can then be assigned access to resources within the domain. Starting with [[Windows Server 2000]], [[Active Directory]] is the Windows component in charge of maintaining that central database.<ref name="ADinW2K">Northrup, Tony. [http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/plan/int2ksrv/intro11.mspx ''Introducing Microsoft Windows 2000 Server''], Microsoft Press, 1999. {{ISBN|1-57231-875-9}}</ref> The concept of Windows domain is in contrast with that of a [[workgroup (computer networking)|workgroup]] in which each computer maintains its own database of security principals.