20 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONALLESSON SUMMARY■...

1-20 Chapter 1 Introduction to Windows XP Professional

Lesson Summary

■

To explain how workgroups work, you must know the following things:

❑

A Windows XP Professional workgroup is a logical grouping of networked

computers that share resources such as files and printers.

❑

A workgroup is referred to as a peer-to-peer network because all computers

in the workgroup can share resources as equals (peers) without a dedicated

server.

❑

Each computer in the workgroup maintains a local security database, which is

a list of user accounts and resource security information for the computer on

which it resides.

■

To explain how domains work, you must know the following things:

❑

A domain is a logical grouping of network computers that share a central

directory database containing user accounts and security information for the

domain.

❑

This central directory database, known as the directory, is the database por-

tion of Active Directory service, which is the Windows 2003 directory service.

❑

The computers in a domain can share physical proximity on a small LAN or

can be distributed worldwide, communicating over any number of physical

connections.

❑

You can designate a computer running Windows Server 2003 as a domain

controller. If all computers on the network are running Windows XP Profes-

sional, the only type of network available is a workgroup.