Avoiding Windows service accounts with static passwords using GMSAs

21st of October, 2016 / / 3 Comments

One of the benefits of an Active Directory (AD) running with only Windows Server 2012 domain controllers is the use of ‘Group Managed Service Accounts’ (GMSAs).
GMSAs can essentially execute applications and services similar to an Active Directory user account running as a ‘service account’.  GMSAs store their 120 character length passwords using the Key Distribution Service (KDS) on Windows Server 2012 DCs and periodically refresh these passwords for extra security (and that refresh time is configurable).… [Keep reading] “Avoiding Windows service accounts with static passwords using GMSAs”

How to assign and remove user Office365 licenses using the AzureADPreview Powershell Module

12th of October, 2016 / / No Comments

A couple of months ago the AzureADPreview module was released. The first cmdlet that I experimented with was Set-AzureADUserLicense. And it didn’t work, there was no working examples and I gave up and used GraphAPI instead.
Since then the AzureADPreview has gone through a number of revisions and I’ve been messing around a little with each update. The Set-AzureADUserLicense cmdlet has been my litmus test. Now that I have both removing and assigning Office 365 licenses working I’ll save others the pain of working it out and give a couple of working examples.… [Keep reading] “How to assign and remove user Office365 licenses using the AzureADPreview Powershell Module”

Azure AD Connect: An error occurred executing configure AAD Sync task: user realm discovery failed

12th of October, 2016 / / No Comments

Yesterday (Tuesday October 11th, 2016) I started a routine install of Azure AD Connect. This project is for an upgrade from FIM 2010 R2 for a long time client; if you were wondering.
Unfortunately at the end of the process, when essentially the final part of the install was running, during the “Configure” process, I ran into some trouble.

Strike 1

I received the following error:

An error occurred executing Configure AAD Sync task: user_realm_discovery_failed: User realm discovery failed

This happened with the current, as of this blog post, version of Azure AD Connect: 1.1.281.0 (release: Sep 7th 2016).… [Keep reading] “Azure AD Connect: An error occurred executing configure AAD Sync task: user realm discovery failed”

Automate ADFS Farm Installation and Configuration

27th of September, 2016 / / No Comments

Originally posted on Nivlesh’s blog @ nivleshc.wordpress.com

Introduction

In this multi-part blog, I will be showing how to automatically install and configure a new ADFS Farm. We will accomplish this using Azure Resource Manager templates, Desired State Configuration scripts and Custom Script Extensions.

Overview

We will use Azure Resource Manager to create a virtual machine that will become our first ADFS Server. We will then use a desired state configuration script to join the virtual machine to our Active Directory domain and to install the ADFS role.… [Keep reading] “Automate ADFS Farm Installation and Configuration”

Active Directory – What are Linked Attributes?

26th of September, 2016 / / No Comments

A customer request to add some additional attributes to their Azure AD tenant via Directory Extensions feature in the Azure AD Connect tool, lead me into further investigation. My last blog here set out the customer request, but what I didn’t detail in that blog was one of the attributes they also wanted to extend into Azure AD was directReports, an attribute they had used in the past for their custom built on-premise applications to display the list of staff the user was a manager for.… [Keep reading] “Active Directory – What are Linked Attributes?”

Azure API Management Step by Step – Use Cases

23rd of September, 2016 / / No Comments

jorge-fotoUse Cases

On this second post about Azure API management, let’s discuss about use cases. Why “Use Cases”?                  

Use cases helps to manage complexity, since it focuses on one specific usage aspect at the time. I am grouping and versioning use cases to facilitate your learning process and helping to keep track with future changes. You are welcome to use these diagrams to demonstrate Azure API management features.

API On-boarding is a key aspect of API governance and first thing to be discussed. … [Keep reading] “Azure API Management Step by Step – Use Cases”

Azure AD Connect – Multi-valued Directory Extensions

16th of September, 2016 / / No Comments

I happened to be at a customer site working on an Azure project when I was asked to cast a quick eye over an issue they had been battling with. They had an Azure AD Connect server synchronising user and group objects between their corporate Active Directory and their Azure AD, used for Office 365 services and other Azure-based applications. Their intention was to synchronise some additional attributes from their Active Directory to Azure AD so that they could be used by some of their custom built Azure applications.… [Keep reading] “Azure AD Connect – Multi-valued Directory Extensions”

Azure AD Application SSO and Provisioning – Things to consider

14th of September, 2016 / / 3 Comments

I’ve had the opportunity to work on a couple of customer engagements recently integrating SaaS based cloud applications with Azure Active Directory, one being against a cloud-only Azure AD tenant and the other federated with on-premises Active Directory using ADFS. The Azure AD Application Gallery now has over 2,700 applications listed which provide a supported and easy process to integrate applications with Azure AD, although not every implementation is the same. Most of them have a prescribed tutorial on how to perform the integration (listed here), while some application vendors have their own guides.… [Keep reading] “Azure AD Application SSO and Provisioning – Things to consider”

Azure API Management Step by Step

9th of September, 2016 / / 3 Comments

jorge-fotoIntroduction

As a speaker and cloud consultant, I have learned and received a lot of feedback about Azure API management platform from customers and community members. I will share some of my learnings in this series of blog posts. Let’s get started!

apim-image

APIs – Application programming interfaces are everywhere! They are already part of many companies’ strategies. But how could we consolidate internal and external APIs? How could you productize and monetize them for your company?… [Keep reading] “Azure API Management Step by Step”

Applying Business Rules to Profile Photos Using Microsoft Cognitive Services

7th of September, 2016 / / No Comments

A customer I am working with at the moment is in the (very) early stages of discussion around the gathering and application of profile photos across their internal systems. In this particular case, we are considering that the photos themselves do not exist. Sure, there are ID card photos of startled staff taken on day one of their employment, but people being people, they would rather not be forever digitally represented by their former selves – particularly not the version of themselves which had an ID photo taken in a poorly lit un-used meeting room 7 years ago before they got that gym membership.… [Keep reading] “Applying Business Rules to Profile Photos Using Microsoft Cognitive Services”