2.1.6 Active Directory Domain Services

To perform tasks such as finding printers and looking up user information, protocol clients communicate with Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), and they do so by using Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) APIs and Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) APIs. When a protocol client calls ADSI APIs, it uses an ADSI LDAP Provider to communicate with AD DS. An ADSI LDAP Provider is a set of Component Object Model (COM) objects that implement ADSI, make LDAP calls, and run locally on the computer where an Office protocol client is installed. The LDAP protocols that communicate with AD DS are described in [MS-ADTS].

Protocol clients use ADSI, and therefore AD DS, to find printers based on specified search criteria and to install the appropriate printer drivers.

Microsoft Outlook 2013, Microsoft Outlook 2010, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Microsoft InfoPath 2013, Microsoft InfoPath 2010, Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007, Microsoft SharePoint Workspace 2010, and Microsoft Office Groove 2007 use ADSI and LDAP APIs, and consequently the protocols that are described in [MS-ADTS], to find user information, such as e-mail address and group membership, create and delete user accounts or passwords in AD DS, manage personal sites in Microsoft SharePoint Server, and integrate with instant messaging services.