Book Image

Windows Server 2019 Automation with PowerShell Cookbook - Third Edition

By : Thomas Lee
Book Image

Windows Server 2019 Automation with PowerShell Cookbook - Third Edition

By: Thomas Lee

Overview of this book

Windows Server 2019 is the latest version of Microsoft’s flagship server operating system. It also comes with PowerShell Version 5.1 and offers a number of additional features that IT professionals will find useful. This book is designed to help you learn how to use PowerShell and manage the core roles, features, and services of Windows Server 2019. You will begin by creating a PowerShell Administrative Environment that features updated versions of PowerShell, the Windows Management Framework, .NET Framework, and third-party modules. Next, you will learn to use PowerShell to set up and configure Windows Server 2019 networking and understand how to manage objects in the Active Directory (AD) environment. The book will also guide you in setting up a host to utilize containers and deploying containers. Further along, you will be able to implement different mechanisms to achieve Desired State Configuration. The book will then get you up to speed with Azure infrastructure, in addition to helping you get to grips with setting up virtual machines (VMs), websites, and file share on Azure. In the concluding chapters, you will be able to deploy some powerful tools to diagnose and resolve issues with Windows Server 2019. By the end of this book, you will be equipped with a number of useful tips and tricks to automate your Windows environment with PowerShell.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Windows Server 2019 Automation with PowerShell Cookbook Third Edition
Foreword
Contributors
Preface
Index

Finding expired computers and disabled users in AD


The objects in your AD database—the users, computers, groups, OUs, policies, and so on, are constantly changing in almost all organizations. Users leave, computers die, OUs and policies are added/removed/renamed, and so on. Change is constant!

A side effect of this change is having orphaned objects: users who are no longer part of your organization, or computers that no longer actually exist physically. You can also find you have objects that may be valid but have not been used for a long time.

Those accounts represent a potential security risk. An unused user account, for example, due to a user leaving and their account not being removed, can represent a threat vector. Suppose Ruth in the accounting department (who has access to the firm's accounting data) has left. If her account is active, then someone guessing her password could attempt to use her credentials to access such information. The risk is magnified if Ruth could access that...