Business Challenge:
With over fifty Active Directory domains, this global manufacturing firm had more than three hundred domain administrator accounts. For security reasons, the firm wanted to reduce this number to less than twenty domain administrators throughout the forest, remove this highly privileged role from the individual domains, and centralize the domain administration function within Central IT. Additionally, with more than fifty independent divisions, the prospect of moving to a single domain and the subsequent loss of division autonomy and isolation presented a monumental business and political challenge.
Solution:
Using Microsoft’s best practices for delegation of administration as a starting point, Oakwood designed a delegation model for this organization’s current AD environment as well as the anticipated future state. After deploying the design in a test lab, a migration plan was designed and tested to provide for a smooth transition from the current AD environment to a single domain model.
Business Benefit:
Network security has been dramatically improved, with the number of people with domain administration rights to the network having been dramatically reduced. Consolidation of the domains into a single domain structure has created a much more efficient network, and overall service to the user community has been improved.