Active Directory (AD) is Microsoft’s directory service that manages and authenticates users, computers, and resources within a networked environment. It provides centralized control over identities, permissions, and access policies across Windows-based systems.
How Active Directory Works
Active Directory operates as a hierarchical database that stores and organizes information about network objects, users, groups, computers, and applications, allowing administrators to manage them from a single location.
Key components include:
- Domain Controllers (DCs): Servers that handle authentication and authorization requests.
- Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): Enables directory queries and updates.
- Kerberos Authentication: A ticket-based protocol that allows secure sign-on without exposing passwords.
- Group Policy Objects (GPOs): Define and enforce configuration and security settings across systems.
AD was designed for on-premises, Windows-centric environments. In modern setups, it often integrates with Azure Active Directory (now Entra ID) or other identity providers to extend identity management across hybrid and cloud systems.
Why Active Directory Matters
For most enterprises, Active Directory is the backbone of identity and access control. It enforces who can log in, which systems they can access, and how those permissions evolve over time.
AD enables:
- Centralized identity governance for thousands of users and devices.
- Consistent security policies across departments and regions.
- Regulatory compliance through auditable authentication and authorization logs.
However, as organizations adopt cloud-native workloads and AI systems, AD’s legacy design struggles to keep up. It doesn’t natively manage non-human identities like services, workloads, or agents, nor does it fit neatly into Zero Trust or ephemeral infrastructure models.
That’s where complementary systems like Aembit become essential.
Common Challenges
- Identity Fragmentation: AD covers human and Windows identities but not containers, cloud workloads, or AI agents.
- Complex Federation: Integrating AD with AWS IAM, GCP IAM, or Entra ID introduces sync and federation complexity.
- Security Risks: Password or ticket-based auth can be exploited via attacks like pass-the-hash or Golden Ticket.
- Operational Overhead: Managing forests, trusts, and replication adds administrative burden.
- Limited Observability: Native logs show what happened but not why specific access was granted.
Related Reading
Related Terms:
Azure Active Directory (Entra ID), Kerberos, LDAP, Machine Identity, Workload Access Management
FAQ
You Have Questions?
We Have Answers.
Can Active Directory operate in a purely cloud-native environment?
While AD was designed for on-premises Windows domains, via integrations (such as with Azure Active Directory / Entra ID) it can extend into cloud-hybrid architectures. For fully cloud-native use (especially non-Windows workloads), organizations often complement AD with cloud-based directory or identity services.
What are the key limits or constraints of Active Directory?
Common constraints include: dependence on Windows server infrastructure and Windows-centric domains; challenges supporting non-Windows or multi-platform devices; complexity around large-scale replication, forests, trusts, and object counts; and native lack of modern identity protocols like OIDC/SAML in the core AD architecture.
Why are nested groups in Active Directory considered a potential risk?
Nested groups (groups within groups) can simplify administrative management, but they also make it difficult to track effective permissions, can lead to unintended privilege escalation, and complicate auditing. This complicates least-privilege implementation and visibility of who has what access.
How does Active Directory relate to modern identity governance and non-human or workload identities?
AD primarily manages human and Windows computer identities within a domain. It is less suited for modern workload identities (e.g., containers, AI agents, service-to-service access) because it lacks built-in mechanisms to treat non-human identities at scale, enforce zero-trust posture, or issue short-lived credentials for ephemeral workloads. As such, enterprises often layer specialized solutions (like workload identity platforms) to extend beyond traditional AD.