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Domain Trusts

Domain Trusts are relationships established between two domains that allow users in one domain to access resources in another. Trusts help organizations manage authentication and authorization across multiple domains efficiently.

Key Points:​

  • Trusts enable resource sharing across domains.
  • Trusts can be one-way or two-way.
  • They can be transitive (extending trust to other domains) or non-transitive (limited to specific domains).
  • They help manage security and permissions centrally.

Simple Example:​

Imagine a company, XYZ Corp, with two domains:

  1. HQ.XYZ.com (Headquarters domain)
  2. Branch.XYZ.com (Branch office domain)

If HQ.XYZ.com trusts Branch.XYZ.com (one-way trust), then:

  • Users in Branch.XYZ.com CANNOT access resources in HQ.XYZ.com.
  • But users in HQ.XYZ.com CAN access resources in Branch.XYZ.com.

If it's a two-way trust, both domains can access each other's resources.

Type of Domain Trusts​