My thoughts and insights plus any [ADUG] notices.
AD LDS is a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory service that provides flexible support for directory-enabled applications, without the dependencies that are required for Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). AD LDS provides much of the same functionality as AD DS, but it does not require the deployment of domains or domain controllers. In environments where AD DS exists, AD LDS can use AD DS for the authentication of Windows security principals. You can run multiple instances of AD LDS concurrently on a single computer, and have an independently managed schema for each AD LDS instance.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=a45059af-47a8-4c96-afe3-93dab7b5b658
About Mark Parris
I have been working with Active Directory since the early beta releases of Windows 2000, I work for myself and have travelled to all corners of the globe designing and deploying Active Directory based solutions.
If you need to contact me for anything Active Directory or [ADUG] related my numbers are:
+44 (0)1372 740373 or +44(0)7801 690596 or email mark.parris@baseit.co.uk