IT professional writing about cybersecurity, cloud & DevOps, automation, networking, and systems administration. Real-world guides for real-world problems.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Learn how to restore deleted Active Directory objects using the AD Recycle Bin. This guide explains the object lifecycle with and without the Recycle Bin enabled, and walks through restoring a deleted user account using the Active Directory Administrative Center (ADAC) and Windows PowerShell.
Learn how to permanently delete objects from the Active Directory Recycle Bin using PowerShell. This guide explains why the ADAC GUI cannot permanently delete recycled objects and shows the exact Get-ADObject and Remove-ADObject commands to safely and irreversibly remove an AD object before its tombstone lifetime expires.
Learn how to configure DFS Namespaces and DFS Replication on Windows Server. This step-by-step guide covers installing DFS roles, creating a domain-based namespace, adding folder targets on multiple servers, configuring share permissions, and setting up a replication group to keep files synchronized automatically.
Add an alternative UPN suffix to your AD forest so users can sign in as user@abccorp.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).
