John Policelli's Blog

In case you haven’t heard, Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) is now available for Windows7. Here is the link to the download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=a45059af-47a8-4c96-afe3-93dab7b5b658

Windows Server 2008 R2 includes a new server role, called Active Directory Web Services (ADWS), which is a prerequisite to use the Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell and the Active Directory Administrative Center. Until recently, you were unable to use the Active Directory Module for Windows PowerShell and the Active Directory Administrative Center unless you were managing a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine. However, Microsoft released the Active Directory Management Gateway Service (ADWGS) in early June to extend this functionality to Windows Server 2008 SP1 (and later versions) and Windows Server 2003 SP2 (and later versions).

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In case you haven’t heard, Microsoft released security bulletin MS09-018 to address vulnerabilities in Active Directory and Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM). It is important to note that this vulnerability DOES NOT apply to Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) or Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) in Windows Server 2008.

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Windows Server 2008 introduces a new feature that allows you to create and view snapshots of data that is stored in AD DS and AD LDS. The Active Directory database mounting tool (Dsamain.exe) was referred to as Snapshot Viewer and Active Directory data mining tool during the beta releases of Windows Server 2008.

Microsoft states that the Active Directory database mounting tool is useful to simplify the forest recovery process and to audit modified and deleted objects. These are two very useful reasons to learn more about the Active Directory mounting tool. What follows is a step-by-step on how to use the Active Directory database mounting tool.

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