Category: 1339

A while ago, I wrote a blogpost on the requirements you’d need to meet to take advantage of Active Directory features in Windows Server 2003 through Windows Server 2008 R2. Since Windows Server 2012 was released almost a year ago, it’s time to look at the requirements for Active Directory features in Windows Server 2012.

Microsoft introduced Dynamic Access Control (DAC) as its claims-based authorization solution. It’s revolutionary, because it enables admins to more granularly control access to file resources, based on attributes of objects in Active Directory, like department, manager and country, instead of through an elaborate and obscure group membership structure and static Access Control Lists (ACLs) on … Continue reading "10 Things you need to be aware of before deploying Dynamic Access Control"

As you might be aware, every Microsoft server product has the requirement to be manageable through PowerShell and System Center. The PowerShell requirement is formulated as part of the Common Engineering Criteria (CEC). With PowerShell available as a version 3 product (and part of Windows Server 2012) it’s time to see how the teams, responsible … Continue reading "Active Directory Services and PowerShell manageability"

A new feature in Windows Server 2008 R2 and the Windows Server 2008 R2 Forest Functional Level (FFL) is the Active Directory Recycle Bin. This feature enables administrators to restore (accidentally) deleted objects, without booting into Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM) or reanimating objects (with loss of attributes).

As we’ve seen in part 4 of this series, Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2012 now sports a grand total of 145 PowerShell Cmdlets. Learning these commands and putting them to good use, might seem like a week’s worth, but actually, the PowerShell History Viewer in the Windows Server 2012 Active Directory Administrative … Continue reading "New features in Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2012, Part 5: PowerShell History Viewer"

Microsoft has included numerous features in Active Directory the last couple of years. Also, more and more technologies in products like Exchange Server, SharePoint Server and the Windows client (Windows Vista, Windows 7) have an Active Directory opt-in to store information in Active Directory. All this bountiful integration, however, comes with a price. The price … Continue reading "Active Directory Feature Requirements"