Active Directory Management Tool

What is Active Directory management?

Active Directory management comprises all systems, tools, and processes used to manage the access rights for user groups and accounts, as relates to company assets (systems, files, and data).

Why is Active Directory management important?

Microsoft Active Directory is an important service used by system administrators for managing network security, users, assets, computers, and devices across networks. As cybersecurity threats grow more advanced, admins must be extra vigilant about keeping data secure, regulating user access, and mitigating potential cybersecurity threats by managing Active Directory.

However, staying up-to-date on compliance requirements and setting authorizations can be difficult to achieve using Active Directory alone. Using AD in conjunction with a specialized AD management software can make it easier for admins to understand and manage permissions levels across the organization and more easily demonstrate compliance with regulatory and legal requirements related to access rights. 

What are Active Directory management tools?

Active Directory management tools refers to any third-party software that integrates with Active Directory and optimizes its processes.

Do you know who has access to systems, data, and files? Do you know when they last accessed them? By using the right tools for Active Directory management, you can more easily generate user activity reports to verify the appropriateness of account access and help ensure you always know the answer to these questions. 

It’s time to stop spending so much time on manual user provisioning/deprovisioning. A comprehensive, agile, and scalable AD management tool is designed to provide:

• Increased administrative control: Admins can manage user permissions and control from a single interface and gain critical insight into what’s going on in their network.
• Help simplify demonstrating regulatory compliance: The best Active Directory management tools can automatically generate management and compliance reports, so you’ll always be ready for an audit.
• Easier credential management: Active Directory management makes setting and changing passwords a breeze, which comes in handy when it’s time to change all user passwords.
• Improved internal and external security: Active Directory management reigns in external credential theft and internal unauthorized user access.
• Reduced overhead costs: With one functional AD management tool, you won’t have to spend a lot of money on disparate technologies to build an effective Active Directory manager. You can also scale up or down as you go.

How do Active Directory management tools work?

Active Directory management tools work by providing a centralized platform from which admins can manage user access rights, manage user provisioning processes, and comply with audits. Active Directory tools should include processes for adding users to groups, changing password options in bulk, and deactivating user accounts in bulk.

Have you been searching for a way to manage all user authorizations from one place? Do you struggle with getting compliance reports ready in time for auditors? Have you been neglecting your cybersecurity best practices and want a tool to help automate security protocols? Active Directory management tools can help.

With SolarWinds Access Rights Manager, these core processes are designed to be quick and easy.

How to create a group and add users

1. Open ARM, click “Start,” and select “Create new user or group.”
2. ARM will then offer you four standard templates, but you can add as many of your own customized templates as you want. Pick a group template and click “Select.”
3. Set the group’s name, description, scope, and type.
4. Add users to the group on the same screen.
5. Set credentials for adding the new group in AD.
6. Enter a “comment” to explain why the account was created and what it’s being used for.
7. Save your work. 

How to change passwords in bulk

1. Open ARM, click “Analysis” on the right side of the screen, and select “AD users” under “Categories.”
2. Select "All AD user accounts."
3. Set options for the scenario and click on “Start calculations for your scenario.”
4. Narrow down your selection using the sorting, filtering, grouping, and column features. Select the entries you want.
5. Click on “change password options” and then change the password for the group.
6. Set the new password options.
7. Enter a comment and click on “Execute Action.”

After the action is executed, it will show up on the ARM server and SysAdmins can track its progress.

How to deactivate user accounts in bulk

1. Open ARM, click “Analysis” on the right side of the screen, and select “AD users” under “Categories.”
2. Select "All AD user accounts."
3. Set options for the scenario and click on “Start calculations for your scenario.”
4. Narrow down your selection using the sorting, filtering, grouping, and column features. Select the entries you want.
5. Click on “Deactivate user.”
6. Enter a comment and hit “Execute action.”

Performing routine aspects of Active Directory management in bulk using AD management software saves administrators valuable time and makes it easier to secure their networks.

How does Active Directory management work in Access Rights Manager?

SolarWinds Access Rights Manager is a powerful and scalable AD management tool designed to streamline user management, simplify user provisioning and deprovisioning, improve regulatory compliance, and manage user rights. Many Active Directory management tools can be costly and complicated, but ARM is an affordable solution and can offer you everything you need to master Active Directory.

With ARM, you can:

• Quickly demonstrate compliance for auditors with auto-generated reports
• Automatically provision and deprovision users
• Gain critical visibility into user access rights across your entire environment
• Mitigate cybersecurity risks by cracking down on unauthorized user access and potential data breaches
• Free up time to spend on more complex management tasks, and more

Access Rights Manager comes in two varieties: audit edition and the full version. With the audit edition, you can effectively analyze, monitor, and audit AD, SharePoint, Exchange, and File Share, but you’ll miss out on unique features like ARM’s self-service permissions portal and access rights delegation. Try the full version of Access Rights Manager free for 30 days and unlock Active Directory’s true potential. 

Related Features and Tools

• Active Directory Reporting Tool
• Active Directory Auditing Tool
• Active Directory Groups Management
• Active Directory Permissions Reporting
• Active Directory Folder Permissions
• OneDrive Permissions Monitoring
• SharePoint Permissions Management
• SharePoint Audit Tool
• Simplify NTFS Permissions Management
• Exchange Auditing Software
• Exchange Management Tool
• File Server Auditing