Microsoft Workloads on AWS

Category: AWS Directory Service

Enhance security of your AWS app integration with AWS Managed Microsoft AD

In this blog post, I will show you how you can strengthen security when using two-way trusts between your self-managed Microsoft Active Directory and your AWS Managed Microsoft AD for accessing AWS applications. Introduction Customers often want their self-managed Active Directory users to have a seamless authentication and authorization experience when using Amazon Web Services […]

Streamline Identity Management with AWS Directory Service and One Identity Active Roles

In this blog post we will explore several scenarios where combining AWS Managed Microsoft AD and Active Roles can streamline and accelerate your AWS workload implementations. Many organizations rely on Microsoft Active Directory (AD) to manage identities and access controls, and extending AD infrastructure to the cloud is a common goal. This need often arises […]

Providing self-service multi-account access to AWS Managed Microsoft AD

Introduction In this blog post, I will show you how to selectively share a central AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory (AWS Managed Microsoft AD) directory across your multi-account environment through a self-service model using AWS Service Catalog. In a large and growing AWS Organizations environment with decentralized teams, you want to remove as […]

Automated user creation and provisioning in Active Directory and Amazon WorkSpaces

For customers that have workloads in the AWS Cloud, a common use case is the provisioning of new user accounts in Active Directory, and subsequently, WorkSpaces for these new users. In this blog post, we will present an efficient and reusable solution to automate the creation, provisioning, and deprovisioning of Microsoft Active Directory (AD) user […]

Optimizing large-scale migration of SQL Server databases to Amazon EC2 using backup metadata

In this blog post, we explore how the Microsoft SQL Server backup metadata, known as backup headers, can be leveraged when migrating from on premises to Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). This technique is particularly useful when access to source database information is non-existent or only backup files are available with no access to […]

How to generate TLS certificates for a highly available Remote Desktop Gateway Farm

Introduction In this blog post, I am going to show you how to generate, import, test, and troubleshoot a properly created Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate for a Remote Desktop Gateway (RD Gateway) farm. Secure management of your Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances for Microsoft Windows Server is a top priority for any […]

Accelerate Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling for Microsoft Windows workloads

In this blog post, we will present a sample solution and provide recommendations on how to reduce both the cost and time associated with a Microsoft Windows Server instance joining an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) Auto Scaling group up to 78%. Customers using Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling often desire faster scale-out times to […]

How to simplify certificate provisioning in Active Directory with AWS Private Certificate Authority

In this blog post, we will explore a new feature for AWS Private Certificate Authority (AWS Private CA), Connector for Active Directory, that can help you more easily provision certificates for users and machines within your Microsoft Active Directory (AD) environment with just a few clicks. AWS Private CA can accelerate your provisioning and reduce […]

Automate disaster recovery for your self-managed Active Directory on AWS

In this blog post, I will show how you can leverage Amazon Web Services (AWS) for disaster recovery (DR) for your self-managed Microsoft Active Directory (AD). I will also provide an automated solution to help you run on-demand, periodic DR tests of your AD infrastructure as part of your larger business continuity strategy. Introduction Most […]

Switching Amazon RDS for SQL Server from AWS Managed Microsoft AD to self-managed AD

In this blog post, I will show how to move Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) for SQL Server deployments from AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory (AWS Managed Microsoft AD) to your self-managed Microsoft AD. This blog post is not saying you should move away from AWS Managed Microsoft AD to self-manged AD. Keep […]