• Deciding what applications are to be delivered by Terminal Services, and whether or not Terminal Services is the right approach to use.
• Determining the resources needed to employ Terminal Services to serve the selected applications.
• Designing the components, layout, security, and connectivity of the Terminal Services infrastructure.

Infrastructure Planning and Design: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services

Active Directory® controls the core security of the Microsoft Windows® network environment. The directory service is responsible for authenticating user and computer accounts within the Active Directory infrastructure. In addition, the directory service provides a mechanism for centralized, delegated administration of resources within the forest.

To develop and implement a successful design of Active Directory, numerous questions must be answered and many decisions and strategies must be determined. Considerations for performance, security, manageability, scalability, and many other criteria must be addressed if the design is to be successful.

The purpose of this guide is to assist designers in the decision-making process by providing a clear and concise path for designing the Active Directory infrastructure, given the relative context. This guide relies on best practices and real-world experience to offer considerations and alternatives at each point in the design.