RE: [ActiveDir] When and how often are EA rights needed?

[Dan Holme]

Title: When and how often are EA rights needed?

EA “rights”, once a forest is deployed and delegated, are needed only for “in case of emergency break glass” – i.e. pretty much never.  When you’re talking EA, you’re pretty much talking the Administrator account of the forest root domain (first domain installed), so think of them one and the same—you will be locking down that Administrator account to lock down EA.  Either it’s the ONLY account in the EA group (default) or any other account in EA should be locked down pretty much equivalently.   The “break glass” scenario is, particularly in a multi-domain forest, someone does some nasty delegation (ACL modification) that effectively “locks out” an OU.  Just like you could, theoretically, “lock yourself out” of an NTFS folder.  Just like an NTFS folder, the “owner” of the folder ALWAYS can change the ACL, and open it back up again.  In AD the “owner” is EA… it owns the forest.  So, one container at a time, EA will be able to dig down and unblock.   Case study: One client of mine (100k employees) has only three accounts in the EA group, which in their case is in a dedicated forest root.  I don’t believe they’ve used the accounts on over a year.  Another client (global financial services company) has ONLY the default Administrator account in EA, and that account has had a three-way password created:  three admins each entered PART of a password, the password “pieces” were put into an envelope in a physically secure location in Europe and another in N.America.  AFAIK they haven’t used it since they locked the account down.   Read the MS doc “Best practices for AD Delegation” to effectively delegate your forest, PARTICULARLY if you have more than one domain in your forest.  The things that tend to get “missed” that impact day-to-day or even occasional operations are things like delegating the creation of sites, subnets, and site links; the ability to kick off replication (not recommended but…); and authorize new DHCP Servers.  I’m sure that others on the list will have other tips as well.   Dan       From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 9:29 AM To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org Subject: [ActiveDir] When and how often are EA rights needed?     We're trying to understand when EA rights are needed within a multi domain forest, where each domain represents a fairly autonomous region. Mgmt have suggested that the following is true :  -  EA not needed on daily basis  -  EA rights rarely needed after initial deployment Can anyone please throw a few reasons at me why you would need EA rights on a daily basis? Troubleshooting? Diagnosis? How would you be impacted if you had to request access to a EA account each time it was required? I'd like to build a case whereby we have permanent EAs and would like some additional ammo from you guys :) ***Feel free to argue against my views and explain to me how/why you *could* manage a forest such as the above, without access to an EA account on a daily basis. Thanks, neil PLEASE READ: The information contained in this email is confidential and intended for the named recipient(s) only. If you are not an intended recipient of this email please notify the sender immediately and delete your copy from your system. You must not copy, distribute or take any further action in reliance on it. Email is not a secure method of communication and Nomura International plc ('NIplc') will not, to the extent permitted by law, accept responsibility or liability for (a) the accuracy or completeness of, or (b) the presence of any virus, worm or similar malicious or disabling code in, this message or any attachment(s) to it. If verification of this email is sought then please request a hard copy. Unless otherwise stated this email: (1) is not, and should not be treated or relied upon as, investment research; (2) contains views or opinions that are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of NIplc; (3) is intended for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation, solicitation or offer to buy or sell securities or related financial instruments. NIplc does not provide investment services to private customers. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered in England no. 1550505 VAT No. 447 2492 35. Registered Office: 1 St Martin's-le-Grand, London, EC1A 4NP. A member of the Nomura group of companies.