Active Directory FundamentalsActive Directory Objects

Automate OU cleanup in AD with PowerShell (Expert Guide)

September 29, 2025
Automating OU cleanup in Active Directory with PowerShell: the expert’s comparison guide Active Directory · PowerShell automation Automating OU cleanup in Active Directory with PowerShell: the expert’s comparison guide A practical, production-oriented approach to discover, stage, delete, and prune—safely. Short definition for snippets: Automating OU cleanup means discovering…
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Active Directory FundamentalsActive Directory ObjectsActive Directory PoliciesRecent Posts

Auditing Nested Group Memberships: An Expert Guide

September 29, 2025
Auditing nested group memberships for security risks: the expert’s comparison guide Reading time: ~14–18 min • Last updated: 2025-09-29 Nested groups are convenient, flexible, and dangerously opaque. This guide shows how to audit them properly in Active Directory and Microsoft Entra, with path-aware reporting, Windows event alerts, and Graph transitive queries. …
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Active Directory FundamentalsActive Directory PoliciesTop Read Articles

Automating inactive user account cleanup: beyond “run a script every 90 days”

September 19, 2025
A production-grade playbook for hybrid Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) inactive user account cleanup: signals, staged actions, reversibility, and governance—backed by copy‑paste runbooks. On this page Quick definition Why the usual approach breaks First principles Production-ready technical core Implications & trade-offs Expert mental models Misunderstandings &amp…
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Active Directory FundamentalsActive Directory ObjectsRecent Posts

Managing AD metadata cleanup post-DC decommission: A Playbook

September 9, 2025
Active Directory behaves as if that DC never existed. This guide goes beyond “delete in ADUC” and covers DNS SRV/CNAME integrity, KCC recomputation, lingering objects, and RODC specifics. Focus: metadata cleanup Covers: ADUC/ADSS/ntdsutil Also: DNS SRV, KCC, DFSR, RODC Quick nav Why this matters now Definition & blind spots Under the hood Production-ready Runbook Inherent…
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Active Directory FundamentalsActive Directory PoliciesRecent PostsTop Read Articles

SID filtering in complex AD layouts: the one-bit boundary that decides what crosses your forest

September 9, 2025
Quick definition: SID filtering is a trust-side control that removes foreign SIDs—including values in SIDHistory—from a user’s authorization data as it traverses a trust. It prevents privilege escalation by honoring only the SIDs the trusting side expects. Answer box (at a glance) External/domain trusts: Quarantine=Yes by default → accept only SIDs from the directly trusted…
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Active Directory FundamentalsActive Directory Policies

AD high-availability: RODCs and cross-site redundancy

September 5, 2025
Active Directory high availability Design for the worst day: local logons at branch speed, safe failover by intent—not accident. RODC Sites & Services Next Closest Site Password Replication Policy Definition (snippet-ready): AD high availability with RODCs and cross-site redundancy is the practice of placing read-only domain controllers in low-trust or connectivity-constrained sites and…
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Active Directory FundamentalsActive Directory PoliciesRecent Posts

Transitioning AD schema versions safely: runbook & pitfalls

September 5, 2025
Active Directory The schema is your forest’s data contract. When you raise its version—via adprep or app extensions—you change what can exist and how it behaves. This self-contained guide explains the why, the risks, and a precise runbook you can use in production. Reading time: ~16–20 minutes On this page Why schema transitions matter now What the schema actually is First…
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Active Directory FundamentalsActive Directory PoliciesRecent AD NewsTop Read Articles

DNS delegation architectures for multi-forest environments

September 5, 2025
Architecture • DNS • Active Directory If you run more than one Active Directory forest, DNS is the fabric that lets users, apps, and domain controllers in one forest reliably find resources in another. The right DNS delegation architecture makes cross-forest name resolution fast, secure, and predictable—even in hybrid cloud. Guide + Comparison Updated: 5 Sep 2025 Reading time: ~16–18…
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Active Directory FundamentalsAzure Active DirectoryAzure AD FundamentalsAzure AD Management

FSMO placement strategies for hybrid and cloud scenarios

September 5, 2025
Active Directory • Hybrid architecture In hybrid identity, where some domain controllers live on‑premises and others in Azure, where you place AD’s five operations‑master roles decides authentication speed, change safety, and your failure blast radius. Quick definition: FSMO placement strategies for hybrid and cloud scenarios are the rules and patterns for hosting the Schema, Domain…
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Active Directory Fundamentals

Active Directory 25-year evolution: what changed, what stayed true, and what comes next

September 5, 2025
Comparative guide AD modernization Hybrid identity Zero trust Kerberos Forest recovery Classic AD → Modernized AD → Hybrid future From castle-and-moat to zero trust and hybrid identity: the AD journey. Quick jump: definition · core mechanisms · classic vs modernized · modernization runbook · implications · mental models · misunderstandings & fixes · forward look · field…
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