JSI Tip 7545. Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM).

Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) is a part of Microsoft’s fully integrated directory services available with Windows Server 2003, and is built specifically to address directory-enabled application scenarios. ADAM runs as a non-operating-system service, and, as such, it does not require deployment on a domain controller. Running as a non-operating-system service means that multiple instances of ADAM can run concurrently on a single server, and each instance can be configured independently.Active Directory Application Mode represents a breakthrough in directory services technology that provides flexibility, and helps organizations avoid increased infrastructure costs.Key ADAM benefits include:•Ease of deployment. Developers, end users, and ISVs can easily deploy Active Directory Application Mode as a flexible directory service on Windows Server 2003 platforms and on Windows XP Professional. You can easily install, reinstall, or remove the ADAM application directory, making it the ideal directory service to deploy with an application. •Reduced infrastructure costs. By using a single directory technology for both your NOS and application directory needs, you can reduce overall infrastructure costs. Additional investments are not required for training, administration, or management of your application directory. Application programming interfaces (LDAP, Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI), and Directory Services Markup Language (DSML)) are also equivalent between the two directory services, so that you can build applications on ADAM and then migrate them to the corporate NOS directory as needed, with minimal change.•Increased security. Because Active Directory Application Mode is integrated with the Windows security model, any application that is deployed using ADAM can authenticate access against Active Directory across the enterprise.•Increased flexibility. An application owner can easily deploy directory-enabled applications without affecting the directory schema for the entire organization, while continuing to use the identity information and credentials that are stored in the organization’s NOS directory.•Reliability and scalability. Applications that use Active Directory Application Mode have the same reliability, scalability, and performance that they have with deployments of Active Directory in the NOS environment.

You can run Active Directory Application Mode on computers running any of the following operating systems:

Workgroup and domain requirementsADAM does not require a forest, domain, or domain controller. You can install ADAM on computers that are configured as any of the following:

Support for LDAP clientsADAM supports any Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) client that is written to the LDAP v3 technical specification.Support for ADSI clientsADAM supports Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) for clients running the following:

For complete ADSI functionality with Windows XP Professional, you must install hotfix 817583. For more information about this hotfix, see article 817583, "Active Directory Services Does Not Request Secure Authorization Over an SSL Connection," in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.