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Active Roles 8.1.1 - Administration Guide

Introduction Getting started Rule-based administrative views Role-based administration
Access Templates as administrative roles Access Template management tasks Examples of use Deployment considerations Windows claims-based access rules
Rule-based autoprovisioning and deprovisioning
Provisioning Policy Objects Deprovisioning Policy Objects How Policy Objects work Policy Object management tasks Policy configuration tasks
Property Generation and Validation User Logon Name Generation Group Membership AutoProvisioning Exchange Mailbox AutoProvisioning AutoProvisioning in SaaS products OneDrive Provisioning Home Folder AutoProvisioning Script Execution Microsoft 365 and Azure Tenant Selection E-mail Alias Generation User Account Deprovisioning Office 365 Licenses Retention Group Membership Removal Exchange Mailbox Deprovisioning Home Folder Deprovisioning User Account Relocation User Account Permanent Deletion Group Object Deprovisioning Group Object Relocation Group Object Permanent Deletion Notification Distribution Report Distribution
Deployment considerations Checking for policy compliance Deprovisioning users or groups Restoring deprovisioned users or groups Container Deletion Prevention policy Picture management rules Policy extensions
Using rule-based and role-based tools for granular administration Workflows
Key workflow features and definitions About workflow processes Workflow processing overview Workflow activities overview Configuring a workflow
Creating a workflow definition for a workflow Configuring workflow start conditions Configuring workflow parameters Adding activities to a workflow Configure an Approval activity Configuring a Notification activity Configuring a Script activity Configuring an If-Else activity Configuring a Stop/Break activity Configuring an Add Report Section activity Configuring a Search activity Configuring CRUD activities Configuring a Save Object Properties activity Configuring a Modify Requested Changes activity Enabling or disabling an activity Enabling or disabling a workflow Using the initialization script
Approval workflow Email-based approval Automation workflow Activity extensions
Temporal Group Memberships Group Family Dynamic groups Active Roles Reporting Management History Entitlement profile Recycle Bin AD LDS data management One Identity Starling Join and configuration through Active Roles Managing One Identity Starling Connect Configuring linked mailboxes with Exchange Resource Forest Management Configuring remote mailboxes for on-premises users Azure AD, Microsoft 365, and Exchange Online Management
Configuring Active Roles to manage Hybrid AD objects Managing Hybrid AD users
Creating a new Azure AD user with the Web Interface Viewing or updating the Azure AD user properties with the Web Interface Viewing or modifying the manager of a hybrid Azure user Disabling an Azure AD user Enabling an Azure AD user Deprovisioning of an Azure AD user Undo deprovisioning of an Azure AD user Adding an Azure AD user to a group Removing an Azure AD user from a group View the change history and user activity for an Azure AD user Deleting an Azure AD user with the Web Interface Creating a new hybrid Azure user with the Active Roles Web Interface Converting an on-premises user with an Exchange mailbox to a hybrid Azure user Licensing a hybrid Azure user for an Exchange Online mailbox Viewing or modifying the Exchange Online properties of a hybrid Azure user Creating a new Azure AD user with Management Shell Updating the Azure AD user properties with the Management Shell Viewing the Azure AD user properties with the Management Shell Delete an Azure AD user with the Management Shell Assigning Microsoft 365 licenses to new hybrid users Assigning Microsoft 365 licenses to existing hybrid users Modifying or removing Microsoft 365 licenses assigned to hybrid users Updating Microsoft 365 licenses display names
Unified provisioning policy for Azure M365 Tenant Selection, Microsoft 365 License Selection, Microsoft 365 Roles Selection, and OneDrive provisioning Microsoft 365 roles management for hybrid environment users Managing Microsoft 365 contacts Managing Hybrid AD groups Managing Microsoft 365 Groups Managing cloud-only distribution groups Managing cloud-only dynamic distribution groups Managing Azure security groups Managing cloud-only Azure users Managing cloud-only Azure guest users Managing cloud-only Azure contacts Changes to Active Roles policies for cloud-only Azure objects Managing room mailboxes Managing cloud-only shared mailboxes
Modern Authentication Managing the configuration of Active Roles
Connecting to the Administration Service Managed domains Using unmanaged domains Evaluating product usage Creating and using virtual attributes Examining client sessions Monitoring performance Customizing the Console Using Configuration Center Changing the Active Roles Admin account Enabling or disabling diagnostic logs Active Roles Log Viewer
SQL Server replication Using regular expressions Administrative Template Communication ports Active Roles and supported Azure environments Integrating Active Roles with other products and services Active Roles Language Pack Active Roles Diagnostic Tools Active Roles Add-on Manager

Distributing administration

Suppose a large company wants to introduce distributed administration, but wants to avoid the large costs involved in training their helpdesk and business units to correctly use complex administrative tools. In this situation, there is the need for an easy-to-use tool, to control what actions the helpdesk and business units can perform, and to enforce company policies and procedures.

Solution

Active Roles allows organizations to create Managed Units and to designate Trustees over those Managed Units. Trustees only see the objects to which they have access. They are given only the rights they need for the objects within these Managed Units, down to individual properties. Unlike native Active Directory Organizational Units, Managed Units provide virtual boundaries that span across domains and forests, offering more flexible delegation capabilities.

Delegating limited control over Managed Units efficiently eliminates the need for high-level administrative user ID's, allowing organizations to securely distribute administrative authority to local management. To improve network security and make distributed administration safe, Active Roles defines and enforces customizable administrative polices.

Active Roles allows organizations to safely implement administration for business units. If a company has a number of different business units, each of equal importance and each located in a separate office, a single network administrator could support all of the sites. Active Roles allows the company to create a single Managed Unit, giving an administrator control over users and resources that span multiple domains.

Integrating with other systems

Suppose a company wants to integrate its HR system, administration, and physical security to provide a workflow that reduces repetitive data. Normally, the HR team creates a user profile, the IT team also creates a user profile in Windows and Exchange, and the security team activates an access card for the new employee. The three teams do not synchronize with each another and instead duplicate their work. This results in increased administration costs and introduces security issues. For example, some individuals may no longer work for the company but may still have valid user IDs and access cards. In this scenario, there is a need to integrate the HR system and other systems of the company, and to automate performing user provisioning tasks.

Solution

With Active Roles, a suitable property set can be established to include data from network data sources other than Active Directory. For instance, a property set might be configured to retrieve the personal information of a user from an HR database. When the user account is created, this data could then be passed to Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange. If these property values change, an update could be made to both Active Directory and to the HR system.

Active Roles also provides the ability to set up administrative policies that reduce the amount of input required to carry out a task. For example, when a user moves to a different location, Active Roles could automatically update the user profile in the HR system, based only on the change to the site code or department of the user in Active Directory. Additionally, when a user joins or leaves the company, their access card could automatically be enabled or disabled.

Managing multi-forest Active Directory design

Suppose a host company has client customers who need to place domain controllers on their premises. In Active Directory, every domain controller holds a writable copy of the schema and configuration of the entire forest. Anyone with administrative or backup/restore rights on any domain controller, or physical access to any domain controller, could potentially disrupt the entire forest. For instance, they could attempt to circumvent Windows security, or they could edit the Active Directory database, and the changes would be propagated to all domains in the forest. To avoid such an incident, the company needs to create a separate forest for each client who requires domain controllers on their premises. Otherwise, the actions of one malicious user could affect directory service delivery for other clients in the same forest.

Having multiple forests increases the complexity of the Active Directory structure. This in turn leads to increased administration, as each forest needs separate directory service administration. In this case, there is a need for an administrative system that enables the cross-forest management of Active Directory.

Solution

Active Roles provides a unified management structure that can extend across multiple Active Directory forests. The Active Roles user interface provides a single interface for the management of Active Directory domains that belong to different forests. It offers administrative views (Managed Units) that can hold objects from multiple forests, thereby enabling the unified application of corporate rules and roles across forest boundaries.

With its ability to safely delegate administration in multi-forest environments, Active Roles provides the necessary level of control for the host company’s customers, while enabling the company to implement role-based security, and restrict the customers’ administrative actions based on corporate policies.

For security reasons, it may be unacceptable to have an administrative tool with the same level of rights as a domain administrator. This is because administrative access to an entire domain in a forest may be used to gain administrative access to the whole forest, via the elevation of privileges attack. Active Roles can operate in a multi-forest environment within a precisely defined scope of access to domains, with no special requirement to have administrative access to entire domains or security-sensitive containers. This addresses the need for a product that provides advanced administrative capabilities, while effectively preventing the elevation of privileges.

Simplifying Active Directory structure

Suppose a company wants to design an Active Directory structure based on physical location. As a rule, the administration/IT department, business units, and Exchange team would each prefer to have a different structure. As a result, they agree to a compromise that does not fully satisfy their requirements. Clearly, there is a need to simplify the Active Directory structural requirements.

Solution

In Active Roles, Managed Units allow organizations to achieve acceptable security boundaries without setting up extra domains or Organizational Units. This significantly simplifies the Active Directory structure and reduces security risks.

By using Managed Units for delegation purposes, Active Roles creates a rule-based overlay of Active Directory for administration. This simplifies the process of choosing an Active Directory structure. Different administrative tasks often require different OU structures. For instance, an OU structure designed purely for the delegation of administration differs from an OU structure shaped purely for Group Policy. It becomes much easier to design an Active Directory structure by using Managed Units to handle delegation issues.

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