Active Directory's Recycle Bin

I happened across this article last night while flying back from Boston - "Criticisms and kudos for the Active Directory Recycle Bin". As you probably know, Microsoft introduces the concept of a recycle bin for Active Directory in Windows Server 2008 R2. Allow me to give you the executive summary of the article along with a few of my own tidbits:

• All domain controllers have to be running Windows Server 2008 R2
• The Recycle Bin has to be enabled to work. Don't delete something, enable the Recycle Bin and then expect to restore the item. (Why not enable the Recycle Bin by default - just like my Windows7 desktop does?)
• There's no GUI to help in the restore process. You have to use PowerShell or LDP.
  
• The Recycle Bin does not backup Group Policy Objects (GPO). This is a glaring hole.
• The Recycle Bin only supports restoring deletions - not changes that are made to objects.
  

Take a look at our PowerGUI tool to wrap your PowerShell scripts into - I'd rather PowerShell/PowerGUI than LDP any day of the week! It might make it easier and more repeatable to wrap PowerGUI around your recovery scripts.

Don't forget you can always take a look at a 3rd party recover tool like Quest's Recover Manager for Active Directory.

The Active Directory Recycle Bin is a welcome addition to Windows Server overall but like any insurance policy you need to read the fine print and plan accordingly. Last thing you want to be doing is trying to learn PowerShell to restore some executive's user object...

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Quest Software, QSFT, Active Directory, Microsoft, MSFT

Form factors for strong authentication

Following on Stuart Harrison's post on Quest's new SlimToken I wanted to mention how we keep hearing from customers that they want tokens that are easier to carry and less likely to be forgotten or lost by end-users. With our Defender product we've spent a lot of time working on soft-tokens that run on your mobile phone. We are also about to introduce a new form factor - basically a credit card - that simply fits in your wallet with all your other cards.

In the picture above you can see the one-time password ("717370") in the upper right hand corner. I triggered getting the number by pushing the "Press Here" space on the lower right hand side of the card. The SlimToken has an expected lifetime of 3-4 years and is fully OATH compliant so you can use it with Defender or any other vendor who supports OATH.

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identity management, strong authentication, OATH, Defender, QSFT, Quest Software

Microsoft's Recession Pitch - Part Deux

Hmmm, not sure if the pitch worked or not: Microsoft sales, profits plummet

Microsoft today reported revenue of $13.1 billion for its fiscal fourth quarter, a 17 percent decline, and earnings per share of 34 cents -- missing, by two cents, the consensus of Wall Street analysts polled in advance by Thomson Reuters.

However, it is interesting to note that the Server & Tools Division posted only a 6 percent decline compared to the company's 17 percent decline. Maybe the story prevented a steeper revenue decline for Server & Tools? Maybe.

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Microsoft, MSFT, identity management

Microsoft's Recession Pitch

Interesting article in yesterday's The Seattle Times titled "Microsoft refines recession pitch". It kind of details how Microsoft basically changed their pitch to customers to be very specific around saving money.

"It's been the most successful campaign and initiatives we've ever launched in Microsoft in immediately getting and resonating with customers," Turner said.

"What customer isn't going to give you an appointment if you've got 13, 14, 15 things to help them derive business value and show them the ability to save money?"

The last line of the quote above is one that I have direct experience with. I could ask this question: "Would you have time to discuss product X with our team and how your company could benefit from its use?" versus "Would you be interested in learning how we can help your company save xx% with our product X?"

Guess which one question gets you in the door almost 100% of the time?

Ladies and gentleman, software is about saving money through automation, operational efficiency, etc. You need to be able to show that value. In this climate, the customers I have been dealing with are telling me if I can't show concrete ROI within 12 months I might as well not pitch the story!

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Microsoft, MSFT, identity management