Active Directory security school: Management

Two kinds of administrators for Active Directory
This excerpt from "Administrator shortcut guide to Active Directory security" describes the roles of the two primary kinds of administrators in AD.

Utilizing Active Directory to automate provisioning
Account provisioning is one of the most tedious tasks for administrators. Find out how Active Directory can help you automate this task. Contributor Laura Hunter steps you through the capabilities of Active Directory and its native development tools as well as how third party tools help to automate account provisioning.

Design Active Directory as a database
Without exposure to and a knowledge of databases, administrators may find Active Directory difficult to manage to its full potential. Read this article to learn how you can make Active Directory a powerful tool that you can work with easily. (Feb. 4, 2003)

Managing user rights in Group Policy
Jonathan Hassell offers a suggestion about how to manage a user's administrator rights within Group Policy.

Domain controller penetration testing
Domain controllers are the backbone of your Active Directory network. They require special care when testing their security. Contributor and penetration testing expert Kevin Beaver recommends some tactics and tools for testing DC security.

AD security: Group Policy inheritance and application
Group policy can be confusing. According to Microsoft MVP Derek Melber, understanding some key Group Policy concepts can ensure better security implementation.

AD security: Delegating administration
Delegation of administration in Active Directory is a necessary way to give non-administrators the ability to create and control users and groups. This article by Microsoft MVP Derek Melber details ways to securely delegate administrative rights in Active Directory.

Configure Group Policy to prevent attacks
This list of critical Group Policy settings will help you lock down Windows against security threats, whether you want to thwart automated password cracking attacks, enable audit logging or simply force attackers to jump through more hoops.

Group Policy: The final consideration in securing Active Directory
Group Policy considerations can't be left out of the equation when addressing Active Directory security. Expert Derek Melber gives you an idea of some things to think about when securing Active Directory.

Protecting against anonymous connections using GPOs
How to use Group Policy Objects to protect your Windows computers from insecure anonymous connections.

What's in a name? Active Directory security under the covers
Laura Hunter delves a bit deeper into ways to manage Active Directory security when the need arises to create trust relationships beyond those that are created by default.

Challenge: Make sure you have a secure Active Directory network by securing domain controllers
Protecting your domain controllers is at the core of protecting your Active Directory investment. In this article, Derek Melber challenges IT managers to ensure that their networks are secure as possible.

Administering computers with registry-based Group Policy
The Windows registry is the operating system's reference mechanism, particular entries can help secure the PC as well as weaken its security. According to contributor Tony Bradley, using administrative templates to manipulate GPOs can help you standardize security settings.

Active Directory security
This guide offers plenty of must-know tips on maintaining a secure AD environment, starting with the basics and moving on to more advanced practices.