The Active Directory service provides access to a Microsoft Active Directory database, which stores information about users, groups, shares, and other shared objects. This service has two modes: domain and workgroup mode, which dictate how SMB users are authenticated. When operating in domain mode, SMB clients are authenticated through the AD domain controller. In workgroup mode, SMB clients are authenticated locally as local users. See Configuring Users for more information on local users.
To configure Active Directory, see the following sections: