RUNNING HEAD: DOMAIN STRUCTURE DESIGN DOMAIN STRUCTURE DESIGN Domain Structure Design Todd Whitlock POS 421 December 14th, 2014 Robert Singer Domain Structure Design Active directory domain structure is the structural representation of an organizational active directory in terms of showcasing how its forest, containers and objects are organized and how they function within the whole concept of the AD DS (active directory domain services). Great care and attention to detail should be taken when designing a domain structure so as to ensure that the derived design showcases scalability, security, and efficiency, in both user and resource infrastructure utilization. Some of the best practices put in mind during domain design include proper planning, be it for growth, maintenance, risk management, understanding requirements and generally following accepted standards. The benefits reaped from best practices include: · Simplified management of large windows networks containing numerous objects · A compact domain structure resulting in reduced cost of administration · Reduced consumption of network bandwidth · Low total cost of ownership · Easy resource sharing · Easy delegation of resources as needed. · Optimum performance in searching A well-designed domain structure will also ensure that there is efficient integration of important features like desktop lockdown, group policies, software distribution and also effective administration of groups, users, servers and workstations. In the design of this organizational domain structure the above mentioned best practices and considerations were put in place so as to ensure that interrelationship, resource sharing, management and even communication in the organization remains as efficient as possible. STRUCTURAL DESIGN For a company such as this one with a centralized IT/IS administration and within the same city, it is preferred to use a single forest that will host all the other domain and or organizational units containing site objects in the active directory domain services(AD DS). Doing so will promote a clear understanding and will enforce what this four core terms (forest, domain, organizational units and site objects) in our design really mean. A forest is the uppermost functional level in the active directory domain service, this is usually the first domain in the forest and it acts like the topmost container that houses all the other domain containers in the active directory. The name of this domain is usually the name of the forest, e.g. corporate.intl the other entire domain will exhibit this name throughout their domain names, to conclude on forest they generally act as a security boundary for information contained in the AD instance. Secondly we have the domain that can be defined as a collection of defined objects that are managed as a unit and have a shared common database directory, same security policies and a trust relationship with other domains. Lastly organiza.