Active Directory Administration Cookbook, Second Edition

Simplified actionable recipes for managing Active Directory and Azure AD, as well as Azure AD Connect for administration on-premises and in the cloud with Windows Server 2022

Key Features

• Expert solutions for name resolution, federation, certificates, and security with Active Directory
• Explore MS Azure AD and Azure AD Connect for effective administration on the cloud
• Automate security tasks using Active Directory tools and PowerShell

Book Description

Active Directory is an administration system for Windows administrators to automate network, security, and access management tasks in the Windows infrastructure. This second edition is updated to Windows Server 2022 and guides you through effective recipes for AD administration.

The book starts with a detailed focus on forests, domains, trusts, schemas, and partitions. Next, you'll learn how to manage domain controllers, organizational units, and default containers. You'll explore how to manage Active Directory sites as well as identify and solve replication problems. Later chapters cover different object types in Active Directory: users, groups, and computers. You'll also work through recipes that help you manage your AD domains as well as manage user and group objects and computer accounts, expiring group memberships, and Group Managed Service Accounts (gMSAs) with PowerShell. The book discusses how to manage DNS and certificates, and how to work with Group Policy. You'll then focus on federation and security before going on to explore Azure Active Directory and how to integrate on-premises Active Directory with Azure AD. Finally, you'll discover how Microsoft Azure AD Connect synchronization works and how to harden Azure AD.

By the end of this AD book, you'll be able to make the most of Active Directory and Azure AD Connect.

What you will learn

• Manage the Recycle Bin, gMSAs, and fine-grained password policies
• Work with Active Directory from both the graphical user interface (GUI) and command line
• Use Windows PowerShell to automate tasks
• Create and remove forests, domains, domain controllers, and trusts
• Create groups, modify group scope and type, and manage memberships
• Delegate, view, and modify permissions
• Set up, manage, and optionally decommission certificate authorities
• Optimize Active Directory and Azure AD for security

Who This Book Is For

This book is for administrators of existing Active Directory Domain Service environments and/or Azure AD tenants looking for guidance to optimize their day-to-day tasks. Basic networking and Windows Server Operating System knowledge will be useful for getting the most out of this book.

Table of Contents

1. Optimizing Forests, Domains, and Trusts
2. Managing Domain Controllers
3. Managing Active Directory Roles and Features
4. Managing Containers and Organizational Units
5. Managing Active Directory Sites and Troubleshooting Replication
6. Managing Active Directory Users
7. Managing Active Directory Groups
8. Managing Active Directory Computers
9. Managing DNS
10. Getting the Most Out of Group Policy
11. Securing Active Directory
12. Managing Certificates
13. Managing Federation
14. Handling Authentication in a Hybrid World (AD FS, PHS, PTA and 3SO)
15. Handling Synchronization in a Hybrid World (Azure AD Connect)
16. Hardening Azure AD