Active Directory in 2015!
Welcome to 2015! I want to thank all of my followers, loyal readers of my articles and posts, andManageEngine customers who care about Active Directory and quality products!
I want to start off the new year with a guide to Active Directory in 2015. Of course, this will be my personal view of 2015 and where I see things going with Active Directory.
First off, my focus will be mostly on Active Directory and not Group Policy, as it has in the past.
Second, as an Active Directory MVP for 2015, I will be able to gather input from all of you and take that directly to the Active Directory team at Microsoft during my MVP summits. I will also have regular calls with the AD team and will have a direct connection to the AD team, just as I had with the GP team in 2014 and prior years when I was a Group Policy MVP.
Third, I don’t see Active Directory changing much technically, except for what you might want to move to the cloud with Azure. However, that does not mean there is little to nothing going on with Active Directory in 2015!
Finally, what I do see as action items for Active Directory in 2015 include:
- Securing domain controllers
- Securing authentications
- Securing password resets and changes
- Cleaning up security configuration in Active Directory
- Optimizing common Active Directory management tasks
- Automating common, yet complex, tasks for users, groups, and computers
- Optimizing the creation of new users and groups
- Cleaning up stale and security risk-related users, computers, and groups
This list might not sound like much, but when you consider the full list and the breadth of the list, it is close to a year’s worth of work. Also, you will, I am sure, have other work along the way, too!
I do want to offer up one more thing. If you have any AD, Windows security, Group Policy, desktop, or related questions, please email me. I have a huge pool of resources and knowledge and most importantly, colleagues that know a ton about AD and Windows. I know I can get you answers!
Next week, we will be getting dirty with some solutions with Active Directory. This week, you need to check in on your missed emails and get all of those answered, so you can make the most of 2015.
