Better Active Directory with Windows Server 2012

Refurbished

Article from ADMIN 11/2012

By Thomas Joos

Microsoft's Windows Server 2012 offers numerous improvements in Active Directory, as well as better and easier management.

Active Directory is the heart of most Windows networks, and now a new version of Windows Server 2012 brings several improvements over the previous version. One important advantage is the easy virtualization of domain controllers. And, making snapshots of domain controllers is no longer a problem either (see the article on Hyper-V 3.0 in this issue). VMware and other virtualization vendors likely will upgrade soon to include easy virtualization of domain controllers with Windows Server 2012.

Managed Service Accounts (MSAs) that automatically manage passwords for services can be shared on multiple Windows Server 2012 systems as group MSAs (gMSAs). DHCP servers can be grouped into teams, even without clusters. Windows Server 2012 has retained the command line, but the server and the Windows 8 client now both include the new PowerShell version 3.0, which is much easier to use than its predecessor in Windows Server 2008 R2.

Using Dynamic Access Control, administrators can more easily control permissions for access to files, folders, and even SharePoint libraries. Files can be assigned metadata that only permits access for certain users (e.g., the staff of a department or the management), regardless of the directory they are saved into or the sharing options they have been saved with. This all works smoothly, even when files in SharePoint libraries are moved. And, with Active Directory Rights Management Services, you can set which devices are allowed to access the data. Insecure PCs, home offices, computers in Internet cafés, or smartphones can be locked out.

Virtualizing Domain Controllers

In the future, domain controllers will be easier to install and manage. For this purpose, Microsoft has implemented server groups in the new Server Manager (Figure 1).

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