This article describes the differences between the Hokies and Central Services Active Directories (AD) or domains. Being an organizational unit (OU) admin for one domain does not automatically make you an OU admin for the other. Also, the existence of a Hokies OU does not automatically assume the existence of a complimentary Central Services OU and vice versa.

Hokies AD

Hokies AD (w2k.vt.edu) is the root domain of the Virginia Tech AD forest. The Hokies domain supports user, contact, group, and organizational objects (such as OUs) for all faculty, staff, and students. A "Hokies account" is provisioned for all individuals receiving Microsoft services and is their log on to use for systems and services that are secured with VT’s Active Directory / Entra ID.

All VT users receive an account in the Hokies domain called the Hokies ID. The Hokies domain is where your Hokies ID is managed. You use your Hokies ID to access

• Microsoft-specific resources such as the Exchange Online email service and Microsoft 365,
• Your workstation if the computer was set up as part of the Hokies Domain,
• Various file servers, 
• MyCAT, and
• CAT.

Virginia Tech user accounts within the Hokies domain are provisioned during Virginia Tech Onboarding. They are deprovisioned as part of the Virginia Tech deprovisioning process. 

Central Services AD

The Central Services Domain (CSD) (cntrlsrvs.w2k.vt.edu)is a child domain within Virginia Tech’s Windows Active Directory (AD) that is managed by Collaborative Computing Solutions (CCS) within the Division of IT. It is available for all Virginia Tech affiliated departments.

The intention of the CSD is to provide departments with a stable, secure environment in which system accounts can be created without the department needing to maintain its own infrastructure. If your department has set up a domain within CSD you can

• Use the Intune service and
• Enable remote desktop services license servers

For departmental IT administrators, some key features of using the CSD are

• The department’s computer accounts residing in CSD will be assigned to an Organizational Unit (OU) named after the requesting department.
  • Request to move computers between CSD OUs are handled by Identity Management Customer Support (IMCS).
• User accounts will continue to exist in the Hokies domain, so users who have systems in CSD will log on with their Hokies ID.
• Two staff members from the department will be assigned as administrators. These administrators will be able to perform basic administrative functions, such as resetting passwords or joining systems to the domain.