Architecture & Design Archives - Page 2 of 14

AD Domain Services Architecture & Design

Trust management: transitive vs external trusts

October 3, 2025

Trust management in Active Directory: transitive vs external trusts Trusts are where “directory design” turns into “security reality.” A single trust decision can either enable clean collaboration or quietly expand your blast radius across domains and forests. This guide focuses on the difference that matters most in…

Service account design in architecture (gMSAs etc.)

October 3, 2025

Service Account Design in Architecture (gMSAs, SPNs, Delegation, and Real-World Patterns) Service accounts are rarely “just accounts.” They’re long-lived identities that sit at the junction of authentication (Kerberos vs NTLM), authorization (AD ACLs), and operational reliability. That combination makes them both critical and dangerous: …

Forest/domain consolidation vs maintaining separation

October 3, 2025

Forest/Domain Consolidation vs Maintaining Separation (Active Directory) A comparison for Active Directory architecture decisions. In modern enterprises, Active Directory (AD) remains the backbone of identity and access management. As organizations expand through mergers, acquisitions, or organic growth, they often end up with multiple forests or…

AD partition audit coverage: Domain, Configuration, Schema

October 3, 2025

AD Partition Audit Coverage: Domain, Configuration, Schema – The Foundational Guide Active Directory (AD) is built on directory partitions—logical containers that scope replication, management, and security. The three most critical partitions are Domain, Configuration, and Schema. Auditing these partitions matters because each one holds…

Automated topology design for multi-site replication

October 3, 2025

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 design is the middle path: you let Active Directory generate the connection objects, but you automate the inputs (sites, subnets, site links, costs, schedules, and…

DNS delegation architectures for multi-forest environments

October 3, 2025

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 is not just about who answers a zone; it’s about where the “truth” of a name lives, how that truth is discovered from other…

How to design OU structures for RBAC enforcement

September 29, 2025

How to design OU structures for RBAC enforcement OUs are boundaries for administration and policy; groups are the engine of access. Get that separation right and your RBAC holds up under audits, reorgs, and hybrid cloud. Why this matters Modern estates are hybrid and audited. Auditors expect group-based least privilege, mapped…

Self-service password reset integration with AD

September 17, 2025

Self-Service Password Reset Integration with Active Directory (AD) Self-service password reset (SSPR) reduces helpdesk tickets, improves user productivity, and shortens recovery time during lockouts or forgotten passwords. The integration challenge is simple: users want one reset experience, while organizations still rely on on-premises Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)…

Removing 'password never expires' accounts

September 17, 2025

Removing “Password Never Expires” Accounts in Active Directory The “Password never expires” setting (the DONT_EXPIRE_PASSWORD userAccountControl flag) is one of those legacy conveniences that quietly turns into a long-term security and compliance problem. This article shows how to find these accounts, decide what “good” looks like per account type, and remove the…

Ensuring compliance for dormant/shared accounts

September 17, 2025

Ensuring Compliance for Dormant and Shared Accounts 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 (stale credentials, over-permissioning, and silent…

Architecture & Design

Trust management: transitive vs external trusts

Service account design in architecture (gMSAs etc.)

Forest/domain consolidation vs maintaining separation

AD partition audit coverage: Domain, Configuration, Schema

Automated topology design for multi-site replication

DNS delegation architectures for multi-forest environments

How to design OU structures for RBAC enforcement

Self-service password reset integration with AD

Removing 'password never expires' accounts

Ensuring compliance for dormant/shared accounts

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