The Dojo

Tutorials, deep dives, and insights from our team of IT professionals.

Implement Domain Name System Security Extension (DNSSEC)

Learn how to implement DNSSEC on Windows Server to protect against man-in-the-middle DNS attacks. This step-by-step guide covers the Zone Signing Wizard, configuring Key Signing Keys (KSK) and Zone Signing Keys (ZSK) with RSA-SHA-256, enabling NSEC3 and Trust Anchor distribution, verifying the padlock icon, and best practices for key rotation and monitoring.

Configure DNS Forwarding: Regular and Conditional Forwarders

Learn how to configure DNS forwarding in Windows Server DNS Manager. This step-by-step guide covers regular forwarding (offloading all external queries to public DNS servers like 8.8.8.8) and conditional forwarding (routing domain-specific queries to designated DNS servers), including the DNS resolution order and Active Directory replication for conditional forwarders.

Configuring Group Managed Service Accounts (gMSA)

Learn how to configure Group Managed Service Accounts (gMSA) in Active Directory. This step-by-step guide covers creating the KDS Root Key, creating and installing the gMSA with New-ADServiceAccount and Install-ADServiceAccount, verifying with Test-ADServiceAccount, and configuring Services.msc to use the account with automatic password rotation.

Configure and Manage Active Directory Sites and Services

Learn how to configure Active Directory Sites and Services for a multi-site environment. This step-by-step guide covers creating AD sites, configuring site links with costs, setting the replication interval and schedule, mapping IP subnets to sites, and managing site link bridging for efficient domain controller replication.

Configure Active Directory to Support Additional Domain Names

Add an alternative UPN suffix to your AD forest so users can sign in as user@infotechninja.com without renaming the domain. Walks the optional internal DNS zone, the AD Domains and Trusts registration, the per-user assignment, and the Microsoft 365 hybrid pre-flight (domain verification, UPN audit, sign-in mode). Includes the Set-ADForest / Set-ADUser PowerShell equivalents and the common mistakes (wrong right-click, suffix vs email, forgetting public DNS validation).

Enable Active Directory Auditing

Learn how to configure Active Directory auditing via Group Policy on Windows Server 2008 R2 and later. Track account changes, directory service modifications, and policy updates across all domain controllers.