An Active Directory group should only live as long as it is useful to your business.  But without any native tools to expire and renew Active Directory groups, administrators turn to the time-honored, “delete it and see who complains” technique.  The problem is, then you have to re-create that group, its members and permissions if…

Group Policy Objects (GPO) are not just for OUs any more.  There are not a ton of GPOs that are better off applying exclusively to Active Directory groups but there are a few.  The main use of GPOs filtered to Active Directory security groups is to create exceptions to group policy but there are a few…

In our LinkedIn User Group, we had a customer ask if GroupID could set the Max Send Size on messages to a group.  What they are doing is delegating control of groups to their users but want to maintain control.  So they have implemented the appropriate amount of workflow (on group creation, on join requests, etc). …

I worked in the HR world for quite some time.  As I made the transition to a more IT focused role I was surprised at how similar some of the conversations are.  Both HR and IT are striving to deliver new services and more value to the business lines they serve faster and at lower…

An orphaned Active Directory group is a group with no owner.  On the surface, that doesn’t seem that bad, email is still delivered, permissions are still applied.  But there are some real dangers to the business if you allow Active Directory groups to go ownerless and the membership becomes static. You can almost guarantee inaccuracy…

Active Directory and Exchange offer a great tool for managing communication to distribution lists: message delivery restrictions.  This concept is pretty easy to understand, if you have an Exchange distribution list that you want only certain people to be able to email, you include them in the message delivery restriction.  Conversely, if you want certain…