DevOps Dictionary

Active Directory started as Microsoft’s answer to each Windows server keeping its own separate list of users and passwords, which made life hard for both admins and users. It became a central directory where you manage people, groups, computers, and their access in one place, so a user signs in with a single account and gets only what they are allowed to use. With Active Directory, changes to access are made once and apply across many machines, which cuts down repeated setup and reduces conflicts or gaps in who can reach what; without it, every machine must be updated by itself, so work increases and it is easier for access rules to drift or become inconsistent because there is no shared source of truth.