Active Directory (AD) is a directory service that provides centralized authentication, authorization, and management of users, computers, and resources in a network. AD is based on a hierarchical structure of domains, trees, and forests, where each domain represents a logical administrative unit with its own security policies and replication scope. AD also supports site topology, which defines the physical structure of the network based on locations and network links. Some of the considerations for AD are:
Read-Only Domain Controllers (RODC) are supported. An RODC is a domain controller that hosts a read-only copy of the AD database and does not accept any changes from clients. RODCs are useful for improving security and performance in remote or branch offices that have unreliable or slow network connections to the main office. RODCs can also cache credentials for specific users and groups, and provide local authentication services without exposing the entire AD database12.
Supports multi-domain, single AD Forest topology. A forest is a collection of one or more AD domains that share a common schema, configuration, and global catalog. A forest can have multiple domains that are organized in a tree structure, where each domain has a trust relationship with its parent domain. A multi-domain, single forest topology allows for administrative autonomy, scalability, and flexibility in managing different domains within the same organization. For example, a company can have separate domains for different regions, departments, or business units, and still share common resources and services across the forest34.
References:
What is a Read-Only Domain Controller?
Read-Only Domain Controller (RODC) Best Practices
Designing the Site Topology
Active Directory Domain Services Overview
