Book Image

Mastering Active Directory. - Second Edition

By : Dishan Francis
Book Image

Mastering Active Directory. - Second Edition

By: Dishan Francis

Overview of this book

Active Directory (AD) is a centralized and standardized system that automates networked management of user data, security, and distributed resources and enables inter-operation with other directories. This book will first help you brush up on the AD architecture and fundamentals, before guiding you through core components, such as sites, trust relationships, objects, and attributes. You will then explore AD schemas, LDAP, RMS, and security best practices to understand objects and components and how they can be used effectively. Next, the book will provide extensive coverage of AD Domain Services and Federation Services for Windows Server 2016, and help you explore their new features. Furthermore, you will learn to manage your identity infrastructure for a hybrid cloud setup. All this will help you design, plan, deploy, manage operations, and troubleshoot your enterprise identity infrastructure in a secure and effective manner. You’ll later discover Azure AD Module, and learn to automate administrative tasks using PowerShell cmdlets. All along, this updated second edition will cover content based on the latest version of Active Directory, PowerShell 5.1 and LDAP. By the end of this book, you’ll be well versed with best practices and troubleshooting techniques for improving security and performance in identity infrastructures.
Table of Contents (25 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Section 1: Active Directory Planning, Design, and Installation
8
Section 2: Active Directory Administration
13
Section 3: Active Directory Service Management
18
Section 4: Best Practices and Troubleshooting

Summary

In this chapter, we looked at the new features and enhancements that come with AD DS 2016. One of the biggest improvements was Microsoft's new approach toward privilege access management. This is not just a feature that can be enabled via AD DS, but is part of a broader solution. It helps protect identity infrastructures from novel adversaries, as traditional techniques and technologies are no longer valid in the face of rising threats. We also saw the new types of advanced authentication methods allowed by AD DS. Typical username/password combinations are the weaker option with current infrastructure-security challenges. AD FS 2016 also has additional security enhancements to protect identities in a federated environment. We also explored the improvements made to time synchronization to maintain time accuracy across the AD domain. When we consider hybrid environments...