Do you regularly clean up your Active Directory® (AD)? Have you set a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly schedule, or do you wait until you receive a change request? If you neglect AD cleanup and maintenance, your environment will get cluttered and increasingly difficult to navigate.
Accounts become inactive for a variety of reasons, such as when users leave an organization, change teams or roles, etc. It is important to identify and remove inactive accounts to protect the security of your AD environments. Ignoring these files creates additional opportunities for malicious actors, either externally or internally, to attack your network. In addition to increased safety, regular AD cleanups also offer performance improvements.
There are several tools or scripts you can use to clean your AD environment. However, you will find that the process is cumbersome and time-consuming; especially if you perform this task infrequently or only when asked to remove a particular user. The process can take a full day or more to complete.
IT administrators also perform additional AD maintenance tasks in addition to removing inactive user accounts. Like cleaning, these activities can eat up much of an admin’s day. For example, admins often need to:
- Change passwords according to your company’s security policies.
- Add, update, and change information such as employee IDs or user profiles.
- Track all software installed in the AD environment, or perform an audit.
- Create reports detailing all server configurations or workstation settings.
It can be difficult to find time to focus on routine maintenance, especially if you are already juggling several higher-priority assignments. The good news? You can simplify and speed-up Active Directory management tasks.
Dameware® Remote Support makes it easy to manage individual users, groups, and organizational units (OUs). With Dameware Remote Support software, you can quickly and easily identify inactive accounts and remove them via the Dameware console. Additionally, by managing multiple AD domains from a single Dameware console, you save time and eliminate redundant tasks.
Centralized AD management with Dameware Remote Support allows you to:
- Manage AD objects including users, groups, and OUs.
- Reset passwords and unlock user accounts remotely.
- Manage extended AD objects like employee ID numbers, photos, and your company’s logo.
- Search and filter AD objects using a built-in browser.
- Manage multiple AD domains via a single dashboard.
Dameware Remote Support also includes the Dameware Exporter application. Using this tool, you can export AD properties, system configurations, and software information. Dameware Exporter also helps you keep better records by allowing you to export information from AD controllers, workstations, and servers. You can export in either an XML or CSV format.
With Dameware Exporter, you can export:
- AD objects attributes and information, including users, groups, and OUs.
- Server configurations and system property settings of laptops, workstations, and servers.
- Windows® Management Instrumentation (WMI) properties including information and data about user accounts, memory, drives, accessories, system hardware, and BIOS.
- Any software installed on the Windows computers in your network.
In addition to giving you complete control of your Active Directory environment, Dameware Remote Support offers additional mobility and remote support benefits. You can configure your installation of Dameware Remote Support to allow you to manage laptops, desktops, and servers from your iOS® or Android® mobile devices. Manage critical issues from anywhere in the world with easy-to-use tools like hotkeys, a keyboard, and a virtual mouse.
For obvious reasons, remote control support tools save you both time and money. You no longer have to drive or fly to external sites to provide IT support. You can offer end-users a faster resolution of issues by logging on remotely right away. And, Dameware Remote Support even allows you to initiate multiple remote sessions simultaneously, and quickly switch between them.
Because Dameware Remote Support offers native integration with SolarWinds® Web Help Desk®, you can launch a remote session from either trouble tickets or your IT asset inventory. As a result, you speed up service delivery and improve help desk ticket resolution by saving remote support session information directly to the ticket.
Dameware Remote Support allows you to do much more than just provide remote IT service and computer management. It also serves as an Active Directory management tool.
Dameware Remote Support now includes integration with Active Directory, which simplifies user account management and allows single sign-on with either Windows or AD credentials.
Discover the benefits of centralized Active Directory management and cleanup and more. Click here to download a free trial of Dameware Remote Support software.
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