Category: Active Directory

Active Directory is a family of products. Besides the commonly known Active Directory Domain Services and Certificate Services siblings, the family consists of the Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services, Rights Management Services and Federation Services. The latter received a major overhaul in Windows Server 2012 R2. One of the new features offered by Active Directory … Continue reading "New features in Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2012 R2, Part 5: WorkPlace Join and Registered Device objects"

As we’ve dived into the Protected Users security group, we’ll dive into Authentication Policies and Authentication Policy Silos today, as these latter two features are greatly intertwined with the functionality of the Protected Users group and have much in common. But, as we’ll find out, Authentication policies and authentication policy silos also differ greatly from … Continue reading "New features in Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2012 R2, Part 3: Authentication Policies and Authentication Policy Silos"

With Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1, Microsoft introduced a feature in Active Directory Domain Services called the Protected Users group. You can use it to limit the availability of outdated authentication protocols, weak encryption algorithms and delegation to sensitive user accounts. Interesting stuff, but I feel there’s some things you should know about … Continue reading "Ten things you need to be aware of before using the Protected Users Group"

In Active Directory, all Domain Controllers are equal, but some are more equal than others. As you gain experience in managing networking environments, you’ll find the same principle is true for user accounts: all user accounts are equal, but some are more equal than others… For instance, some colleagues to whom these accounts belong, require … Continue reading "New features in Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2012 R2, Part 2: Protected Users"