IT Consulting & Professional Services
Active Directory and core directory services
Almost everything in your network depends on the directory. We design it, check its health, upgrade it safely and clean it up so sign-in, name resolution and certificates keep working.
Your situation
Is this what you are looking for?
If any of these sound familiar, this service is for you.
- Sign-in problems and slow logons keep recurring
- Domain controllers are old or replication errors appear
- Group Policy is a tangle nobody dares to change
- Certificates or VPN and wireless logins expire without warning
The work involved
What needs to be done
Whatever the size of the project, these are the steps that decide whether it succeeds.
- 1
Check the health of the directory today
Run replication, DNS and domain controller checks and review FSMO roles and old objects, so we know the starting point and the real faults.
- 2
Agree the target design
Decide the OU structure, sites, policy approach and functional level, and whether certificates and RADIUS are needed.
- 3
Build or upgrade in controlled steps
Add new domain controllers, move roles, clean up stale objects and update policies, with a rollback plan for each step.
- 4
Test sign-in, policies and certificates
Check sign-in, name resolution, policy results, certificate enrollment and RADIUS logins on pilot devices before wider rollout.
- 5
Document, delegate and monitor
Write the runbooks, set delegated administration, and set up monitoring for replication, DNS and certificate expiry so problems are seen early.
How we can help
How we can help
This is what we do for you, so your team can stay focused on running the business.
Directory design and build
Domain and forest design, OU structure, sites and replication, and new domain controllers built to a hardened standard.
Ask about thisHealth checks and troubleshooting
Replication checks with repadmin and dcdiag, FSMO role review, lingering and stale objects, and fixes for the faults the checks find.
Ask about thisUpgrades and migrations
Domain controller upgrades and migrations, including raising functional levels once old controllers are gone, with a tested rollback.
Ask about thisDNS, DHCP and Group Policy
Zones, records and scavenging, resilient DHCP, and a Group Policy design that is documented and has no conflicting settings.
Ask about thisInternal PKI and RADIUS
An internal certificate authority with CRL distribution and auto-enrollment, plus NPS or FreeRADIUS for VPN and wireless authentication, including EAP-TLS.
Ask about thisIntegration and administration
LDAP integration with access gateways such as Accops HySecure and HyWorks, user and group lifecycle, delegated administration, and joining Windows and Linux hosts to the domain.
Ask about thisWhat is included
The main areas covered inside this service.
Directory and name services
Certificates and authentication
Operations
End-to-end delivery
One team owns the whole path, and each stage ends with evidence you can review.
- 1
Design
- Current directory and DNS review
- OU, site and policy design
- Upgrade and migration plan
- Written design for your approval
- 2
Build
- Domain controllers and DNS
- Group Policy and delegation
- Certificate authority and RADIUS
- Monitoring of replication and health
- 3
Test
- Replication and failover of controllers
- Name resolution and DHCP checks
- Certificate enrollment and revocation
- Sign-in and policy results on pilot hosts
- 4
Verify
- Results against agreed criteria
- Pilot with real users and devices
- Security and permission review
- Sign-off recorded with you
- 5
Deliver
- As-built diagrams and documentation
- Recovery and troubleshooting runbooks
- Administrator training
- Defined support period
- A healthy directory with clean replication
- Name resolution and DHCP that do not fail silently
- Policies and certificates that are documented and renewable
- Delegated administration with clear responsibilities
Common questions
Our domain controllers run an old Windows Server version. What should we do?
Older Windows Server releases are out of support or approaching it, and old domain functional levels limit what you can use. We check your versions, plan the upgrade and raise the functional level only after the old controllers are removed.
How do you check whether Active Directory is healthy?
We run replication and domain controller checks with tools such as repadmin and dcdiag, review DNS and FSMO roles, and read the event logs. We then fix the issues and repeat the checks to confirm.
Do we need our own certificate authority?
Many organizations do for internal servers, VPN and wireless authentication. We design it with a safe structure, publish revocation lists and set up auto-enrollment, or advise against it if public certificates are enough.
Can you integrate directory login with our access gateway?
Yes. We set up LDAP or RADIUS authentication for gateways such as Accops HySecure and HyWorks, with least-privilege service accounts and a tested fallback.
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Have a project in mind?
Tell us what you are trying to achieve. We reply within one business day with next steps.