• New DNS and AD DS BPA’s released (or: the most accurate list of DNS recommendations you will ever find from Microsoft)

    Hi folks, Ned here again. We’ve released another wave of Best Practices Analyzer rules for Windows Server 2008 / R2, and if you care about Directory Services you care about these: AD DS rules update Info: Update for the AD DS Best Practices...
  • Fine-Grained Password Policy and “Urgent Replication”

    Hi folks, Ned here again. Today I discuss the so-called “urgent replication” of AD, specifically around Fine-Grained Password Policies. Some background If you’ve read the excellent guide on how AD Replication works , you have probably...
  • AskDS is 0.03 Centuries Old Today

    Three years ago today the AskDS site published its first post and had its first commenter . In the meantime we’ve created 455 articles and we’re now ranked 6th in all of TechNet’s blogs, behind AskPerf , Office2010 , MarkRussinovich , SBS , and HeyScriptingGuy...
  • Friday Mail Sack: Scooter Edition

    Hi folks, Ned here again. It’s that time where we look back on the more interesting questions and comments the DS team got this week. Today we talk about FRS, AD Users and Computers, Load-Balancers, DFSR, DFSN, AD Schema extension, virtualization...
  • Moving Your Organization from a Single Microsoft CA to a Microsoft Recommended PKI

    Hi, folks! Jonathan here again, and today I want to talk about what appears to be an increasingly common topic: migrating from a single Windows Certification Authority (CA) to a multi-tier hierarchy. I’m going to assume that you already have a basic...