One of two types of groups within Active Directory in Microsoft Windows 2000. The other type is security groups. While security groups can be listed in discretionary access control lists (DACLs) for controlling access to resources or sending e-mail to users, distribution groups can be used only for e-mail purposes.
By sending e-mail to a distribution group, you send e-mail to every member of that group.
Distribution groups can be converted to security groups and vice versa as long as the domain is in native mode. You cannot perform conversion if the domain is in mixed mode.