Physical server support for the centralized management services requires a minimum hardware configuration of two Active Directory domain controllers to maintain fault tolerance. As load increases on the domain controllers, you can enhance your deployment by supplementing the hardware resources and optimizing the disk subsystem.

Microsoft tested the solution on the following server hardware:

• Hewlett-Packard ProLiant DL380G3 Servers
  

Active Directory is the foundation of hosting application services on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 and is the central authority for system security, user identification, and control of user access to network and application resources. The Active Directory database is the repository of user and application attributes, security settings, and access control. Planning how to deploy Active Directory is crucial to the availability, scalability, and reliability of your platform.