Microsoft Active Directory Reviews

We use Microsoft Active Directory to manage users, computers, servers, and group policies.

It is easy to use and configure. It is easy to understand all the components as well.

The product's premium support services are expensive. It could be better. 

We have been using Microsoft Active Directory since 2008.

We didn’t encounter stability-related issues with architecture.

It is a scalable product. We have 20 administrators to manage multiple sites and 3000 users for Microsoft Active Directory.

We used Microsoft premium support earlier. It was expensive, and we had to pay extra for a complex issue. Now, we take help from local support partners with access to different areas.

We receive help from Microsoft partners for installation.

Microsoft Active Directory is the product that is most used around the world. So we follow that. We are a joint venture between national companies and international companies. They already use Microsoft; thus, we opted for the product.

I recommend Microsoft Active Directory to others and rate it an eight out of ten.

In our company, Microsoft Active Directory serves as the central component for registering users, storing them in different groups, and defining the type of access for various parts of the company. Additionally, we have rights associated with these groups, which allows us to use them for other tools to assess the permissions in specific areas. Essentially, we use authentication to determine a user's identity and authorization to decide which rights should be applied to them. This process helps us manage access to company resources effectively.

The user-friendliness of Microsoft Active Directory is a valuable feature. 

We may occasionally experience difficulty integrating some solutions with Microsoft Active Directory, but I am unsure whether the issue lies with Microsoft Active Directory or the other solution.

I have been using Microsoft Active Directory for several years.

I give Microsoft Active Directory a nine out of ten.

We have thousands of end users who utilize Microsoft Active Directory.

Microsoft Active Directory is used to centrally manage all objects and provide access. It also serves as the authentication mechanism for most of our Windows and non-Windows applications using Kerberos. User and device management are also handled through Active Directory.

One of the most valuable features of the solution that I like is that it allows our company to apply GPOs properly to many users.

The GUI of Microsoft Active Directory is very basic. At our company, we can go for automation since we don't have many tasks. In the solution, assigning permissions is complex, making it difficult to grant them at a granular level or to multiple users without templates or alternative tools. Although achieving the RBAC or Zero Trust model is challenging due to the same limitations in Microsoft Active Directory, third-party tools are available to assist with this task. Even the Native Azure AD does not have these capabilities.

I do have experience with Microsoft Active Directory. Our company is a customer of the solution. Also, I have been using this solution for maybe eight to ten years. I am using the solution's latest version.

For stability, on a scale where one is not stable and ten is very stable, I rate this solution a seven since there are issues. The solution has its own set of issues concerning patches, compatibility issues, and a few more things. The few other issues are something that actually depends, in a sense, that every month, they roll out the patches, and then they try to close the vulnerabilities, creating issues. So, maybe encryption, and also there are many things.

The scalability of the solution is high. Scalability-wise, I rate this solution may be above eight out of ten. There are around 4,00,000 users of this solution.

The solution is used very often, daily, since it serves as a primary tool for various tasks, including authentication and other functions. At present, we do not plan to increase the number of users using the solution, as we are trying to reduce the footprint.

I rate the technical support for the solution between six to seven out of ten. While technical support is proactive, there are times when we cannot get through a call and don't always receive the support we expect from Microsoft's technical support team.

Neutral

The initial setup of the solution is easy, and I would rate it an eight or nine out of ten on a scale of one to ten, where one being difficult and ten being easy.

The deployment time of the solution varies depending on the team responsible for it. Since it's not primarily our team's responsibility, I'm unsure of the exact time required for deployment. I don't think more than one person is required for the entire deployment process. The number of people required to maintain the solution depends on the company's size.

The solution is worth the money paid for it.

I'm unsure about the cost of the solution, as I was never involved in that aspect. However, I don't think it would be expensive. It might be average, around four or five out of ten. I believe the licensing costs are volume licensing for on-premises, so it shouldn't be monthly. I think it's a one-time purchase for the server, and it comes with the necessary licenses. We don't have to buy any additional licenses.

My advice for those planning to use Microsoft Active Directory as a solution is that it is a scalable and stable platform that has been used for many years. It is a necessary tool for companies using Windows-based operating systems to manage their objects. Overall, I rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Active Directory has been a valuable tool throughout my career in IT. We have not found anything that can compete with it in terms of functionality or solutions. With Active Directory, we can manage users, groups, and machines, add domains and forests and create trust relationships between domains. This is just a small sampling of what Active Directory can do. Windows Server is a great platform on which Active Directory is built.

The solution helped us create and modify objects for each user in our environment. We gave them the delegation and permission they needed based on their function. It was very helpful, especially in managing these users on each site. We were able to implement domain controllers as a primary and additional domain controller as a redundancy for each other. We were also able to create users and additional UUs. It depends on the departments, the business need, and the group policies that we are going to apply.

We can delegate the administration of Active Directory objects and apply group policies to groups of OUs. This is the best way to manage Active Directory. We can also have separate domain controllers in different Active Directory sites based on their location. We manage replication between sites through Active Directory sites and services. We can provide insight into what is being done, which will replicate across these domain controllers in just a few seconds. This will ensure that our data or any modifications, any creations have been replicated successfully to the other domain controllers.

There is no room for improvement because Microsoft's solutions have moved from on-prem to the cloud. We won't see any improvement or enhancement in these on-prem solutions because, according to the Microsoft websites, all the information related to Active Directory and Windows Server has been retired and there is no more information about it. Microsoft has discontinued the solution and moved on. Microsoft has verified that all on-prem solutions will stop receiving support by 2030. 

The GUI has been the same from 2012 to 2016, and from 2019 to 2022. If Microsoft is going to add anything to the on-prem solution, it should be an updated GUI. 

I have been using the solution for six years.

I give the stability a nine out of ten.

I give the scalability a nine out of ten.

The Microsoft Support team often lacks the ability to provide timely support. Their response time is often slow, which can be frustrating for customers.

Neutral

The initial setup is straightforward. I am very familiar with the solution and the setup is a piece of cake. 

I give the ease of setup a ten out of ten.

I have seen a return on investment with the solution.

I give the solution a ten out of ten.

We need to know how many domain controllers we require in our environment in order to create a primary and redundant domain controller. Additionally, we need to follow a naming convention to avoid duplicate users and misspellings. The number and size of RAMs needed for our Active Directory will depend on our workload. We need to design our Active Directory well to ensure a good experience.

Our primary use case is to inform the user of access and single sign-on support to the internet.

The most valuable features are it is easy to use, manage, create a repository, and create the OM.

I would like to see the integration with Mac and IOS products improved. I would also like to have some similar functionalities in the on-premise solution that they have on the cloud solution.

I have been using Microsoft Active Directory for the past six to seven years.

Microsoft Active Directory is a stable solution and there are patches available when there are issues.

There is definitely scalability, we currently have around one thousand six hundred users.

Customer support is available however going directly to a technician is not our primary support option. We are able to use online forums and documentation before we involve a customer service technician.

Positive

In most cases the initial setup is straightforward. If you work in a greenfield environment, then it is easy to perform. But if you are using any previous products like the earlier versions of Microsoft Active Directory, then it is actually difficult to take the downtime and then reconfigure the Microsoft Active Directory on the new server and then re-implement the users in it. The initial migration is complex and challenging, but the greenfield implementation is okay.

The license is perpetual and the cost is minimal. If you purchase Microsoft Windows then Microsoft Active Directory comes with the package.

I think it is highly recommended to use Microsoft Active Directory knowing how it operates. I would rate Microsoft Active Directory an eight out of ten.

My company uses Microsoft Active Directory to control multiple users.

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is an easy-to-use tool.

The cloud service of Microsoft Active Directory is an area with certain shortcomings that need improvement.

Microsoft Active Directory's stability can be improved.

I have experience with Microsoft Active Directory. I use the solution's basic version.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight or nine out of ten.

It is a scalable solution.

Microsoft Active Directory is used by 150 employees in our company.

My company does plan to increase the use of Microsoft Active Directory in the future.

The initial setup of Microsoft Active Directory is complex.

The deployment of Microsoft Active Directory took maybe half a year.

Including managers, engineers, and developers, there is a need for ten people to manage the solution's deployment and maintenance.

The installation phase of Microsoft Active Directory was carried out with the help of a consultant.

My company makes payments every quarter towards the licensing costs of the product. I feel Microsoft Active Directory is an affordable product.

I would tell those planning to use the solution that it is a very easy-to-use product.

I rate the overall solution a ten out of ten.

We use Active Directory for domain and infrastructure management. 

One advantage of Active Directory is that you can sync it with Microsoft Office 365, so you can manage on-premise and cloud operations, which can have different requirements. The flexibility of a hybrid management solution is valuable. 

Active Directory's user experience is a little dated. Group policy management should be more customizable.  

I have used Active Directory for a year and a half.

I rate Active Directory nine out of 10 for stability. 

I rate Active Directory eight out of 10 for scalability.

I primarily go to the Microsoft knowledge base for support. It's fairly comprehensive. 

Positive

I rate Active Directory seven out of 10 for affordability. 

I rate Microsoft Active Directory nine out of 10. 

I use Microsoft Active Directory for user and computer management.

Microsoft Active Directory implementation allows us to save time for user management. Single sign-on with enterprise applications improves our security.

The most valuable features of Microsoft Active Directory are the management of user and group policies.

The DNS services could improve in Microsoft Active Directory.

I have been using Microsoft Active Directory for approximately 18 years.

Microsoft Active Directory is highly stable.

I rate the scalability of Microsoft Active Directory a ten out of ten.

The solution is scalable.

We have approximately 700 people in 90 countries using the solution in my company.

We create user accounts and policies using the solution. We do not touch it often.

I rate the scalability of Microsoft Active Directory a ten out of ten.

We have our own expertise and did not communicate with customer service about this solution.

I did not use another similar solution to Microsoft Active Directory.

The initial setup of the solution is easy but needs good planning, sometimes the environment can cause challenges. The full process takes a few hours. 

The migration from workgroups to the current infrastructure took approximately six months.

The number of steps taken to implement the solution depends on the environment of the deployment. For example, how the users work, and how many offices can determine the difficulty and steps taken for the implementation.

I rate the initial setup of Microsoft Active Directory a nine out of ten.

We did the implementation of the solution in-house with three administrators.

We do not calculate the ROI but think it is worth the money.

The price of Microsoft Active Directory could improve. We pay annually for the solution.

I rate the price of Microsoft Active Directory a seven out of ten.

We evaluated other options before choosing Microsoft Active Directory, such as Linux-based solutions. I was familiar with Microsoft Active Directory and comfortable and this is why we are using it.

We use three administrators for the maintenance of all infrastructure including the solution.

I rate Microsoft Active Directory an eight out of ten.