What are objects in Active Directory? Objects in Active Directory (AD) are entities that represent resources that are present in the AD network. These resources can be users, computers, printers, contact persons who may be

What you’ll learn: Active Directory authentication and authorization are security processes. These processes are necessary in any environment so that the resources of an environment are not misused by anyone. In this article, we will

What you’ll learn: Active Directory (AD) is a directory service introduced by Microsoft as a centralized network resource management system. This network is comprised of entities that represent real users or network resources, and the

You can create objects in Active Directory by using the Active directory users and computers console. Start -> Administrators tools -> Active Directory users and computers. On the Active Directory users and computers console, right click

Active Directory (AD) schema is a blueprint that describes the rules about the type of objects that can be stored in the AD as well as the attributes related to these objects. The schema thus

Organizational units (OUs) When you deploy Active Directory (AD) in your company, you may decide to create multiple organizational units (OUs) within your domain. An OU is a container within your domain that holds users,

Introduction: The process of administering and monitoring the activities of the Active Directory service, which is typically found in Windows Server operating systems, is known as Active Directory management. The major goal of AD management

 What are Tombstones in Active Directory?  When you delete an object from the Active Directory (AD) database, it’s marked as a tombstone object instead of being fully removed. By default, each tombstone object remains in

What is Active Directory Recycle Bin?  The Active Directory Recycle Bin feature allows administrators to restore deleted AD objects. In Active Directory, objects such as users, computers, groups, or organizational units may be unintentionally removed.

Introduction A read only domain controller (RODC) is a type of domain controller that has read-only partitions of Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) database. RODC is available in Windows server 2008 OS and in

Introduction Using passwords is a common approach to protecting and securing a resource from unauthorized access. However, the use and maintenance of passwords have their shortcomings. One challenge is the difficulty of remembering passwords, more so,

What you will learn from this article Before we delve into the Active Directory Certificate Services, let us understand certificates. A digital certificate and a traditional certificate have quite a few similarities. The certificates contain

For quite a long time, we have been following the routine of typing in a password for accessing our computers. Strong password requirements make us set complex passwords which we often tend to forget, and then

Azure Active Directory: Introduction Azure Active Directory is a multi-tenant, cloud-based directory and identity management service provided by Microsoft. It offers identity and access capabilities for applications running in both Microsoft Azure and in an

What are Active Directory groups? Active Directory is a Microsoft technology that is used to implement directory services. It is a feature of the Windows Server and one of the most popular on-premise directory services,

Active Directory (AD), a service provided by Microsoft, functions as a central database for securely storing and managing information about user accounts, groups, applications, and other critical resources. It primarily functions as a directory service

Introduction  Active Directory (AD) is a directory service that stores information about objects on the network in a logical and hierarchical manner. Administrators control and manage access to network resources based on the permissions assigned

Introduction When sharing resources in a common network, the biggest concern is delegating access levels to those resources. Permissions management is a critical security process since any pitfalls can make the organizations prone to data

Have you ever been frustrated why your account is getting locked out frequently in active directory? If your AD account keeps getting locked out, then you have come to the right place. Account lockouts are

The Active Directory PowerShell module is part of the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) in all Windows Operating Systems. It is a set of PowerShell cmdlets that imparts flexibility in managing Active Directory. While AD management

Administrator accounts are the most critical and powerful accounts in operating systems, devices, and Active Directory. Administrator accounts have complete access to all the files, domains, and services on a local server. They are used

What is FSMO? A flexible single-master operation (FSMO) is a set of AD (Active Directory) operations or roles designed to help eliminate replication conflicts. FSMO is used when standard data transfer and update methods are

It is a reasonably simple operation to move one or more FSMO roles from one Domain Controller to another. However, given that all DCs are functioning properly and are online. Learn more about FSMO roles

While accessing Active Directory users and computers (ADUC), it can be observed that Microsoft has used user-friendly names for the input fields. These fields are mapped to the LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) attributes. You

Windows Server Uptime is a crucial metric to measure the stability and reliability of a server. It shows how long the server has been running without any interruption. In this article, you will learn how

An Exchange server is Microsoft’s on-premises mail and calendar offering that allows organizations to streamline effective communication amongst employees. You will be required to remove Exchange Server Mailbox for the below reasons: When an organization

In this article, we delve into configuring the Active Directory Domain password policy, essential for maintaining robust security and compliance within your organization. The following steps, inspired by user interactions and common queries, aim to

Ensuring the security and maintenance of Active Directory user accounts is a critical aspect of system administration. One key piece of information is the last logon time for a user, which helps administrators identify inactive

Creating a task via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) involves a series of steps that leverage WMI’s powerful framework for managing Windows-based systems. This article is intended for system administrators and technical professionals who are familiar

Listing every class in Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) would be extensive, as WMI includes hundreds of classes that cover a wide range of functionalities. However, I can guide you on how to find a comprehensive

Creating a Remote Process via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) In the realm of system administration, the ability to remotely manage and automate tasks on Windows machines is crucial. This article provides a detailed guide on

Remote task scheduling is a critical competency for system administrators managing a network of Windows machines. This article provides a comprehensive guide on how to schedule a process remotely using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), without

Port forwarding is a technique used to direct network traffic from one network port to another. In Windows, the NETSH (Network Shell) command-line tool can be used to set up port forwarding. This article provides

Multi-site replication fails in two ways: either it is left to “defaults forever” and slowly drifts away from reality, or it is over-engineered into a brittle, hand-tuned maze that only one person understands. Automated topology

Multi-forest Active Directory environments rarely fail because “DNS is down.” They fail because the DNS namespace was delegated without a clear model of authority, replication boundaries, referral behavior, and the operational ownership that follows. Delegation

  Hybrid identity is rarely “cloud identity plus legacy AD.” In most enterprises, Active Directory (AD DS) remains the authoritative source for many user and computer identities, authentication policies, and operational workflows—while cloud services depend

Principles from Microsoft’s Active Directory Hardening Guidance Microsoft has published years of Active Directory (AD) security guidance across documents, reference architectures, “security hardening” checklists, and the broader identity security model used for Windows, Entra ID,

Handling user SID-related tasks: from first principles to field-tested operations Security identifiers (SIDs) are the nucleus of identity and authorization in Windows and Active Directory. Every access check, every token, every ACL decision hinges on

  Restricting logon to specific machines means enforcing which Windows computers a given user may sign in to—locally or via Remote Desktop—using Active Directory controls such as userWorkstations (“Log On To…”) and computer-side User Rights

<!doctype html> Failed logons and account lockouts are the earliest, loudest signals of identity trouble in a Windows environment. Sometimes that trouble is harmless (a user typing the wrong password). Sometimes it is operational debt

<!doctype html> Local administrator accounts are both necessary and dangerous. They are the “break glass” lever for offline recovery and deep troubleshooting, but they also create one of the most reliable paths for lateral movement

Automating deletion detection in recycle bin: expert guide for Windows cleanup at scale The Windows recycle bin was designed as a safety buffer, not a data retention system. Yet in many environments it becomes exactly

A user home folder sounds simple: “give each person a private network location and map it as H:”. In real environments, that “simple” choice becomes a long-running system: identity meets storage, permissions, audits, migrations, quotas,

  Risk-based lockout policy tuning is the practice of adjusting lockout behavior based on the assessed risk of an authentication attempt, rather than relying on a fixed “X failed passwords = lockout” rule. The goal

  Detecting unmanaged accounts via group audit means using group membership changes and “who got added where” telemetry to surface identities that operate outside expected governance: accounts not onboarded to PAM, not tied to HR/ITSM

<!doctype html> Cross-forest account synchronization is what keeps access working when identities move between Active Directory forests. SIDHistory is the bridge that lets the new account carry the old identity’s rights without forcing a mass

Cleanup Automation Using Lepide and Netwrix Insights “Cleanup” in Active Directory (and adjacent systems like file servers and M365) is rarely a one-time task. It’s an operating model: continuously detect what’s stale or risky, validate

<!doctype html>     This article explains what the “Password never expires” setting actually means in Active Directory, why it is risky, and how to build reliable detection and alerting with minimal noise. Why this

  Dormant accounts and shared accounts are two of the most common identity-control gaps in Active Directory and hybrid environments. They create audit findings because they weaken accountability (who did what?) and increase attack surface

Aging Analysis of User Accounts A first-principles approach to reducing access risk, cleaning identity sprawl, and improving audit readiness. What “aging analysis” means: Aging analysis is the practice of classifying user accounts by time-based signals