Microsoft Workloads on AWS

Category: Security, Identity, & Compliance

Rotate Active Directory credentials stored in AWS Secrets Manager

In this blog post, I will show you how to use AWS Systems Manager (SSM) Automation to keep a service account’s password synchronized in Microsoft Active Directory (AD) and a Secret in AWS Secrets Manager encrypted with an AWS Key Management Service (KMS) customer managed key (CMK). This blog post uses AWS Secrets Manager, but […]

Synchronize Active Directory users to AWS IAM Identity Center using SCIM and PowerShell

In this blog post, I will show you how to use PowerShell to synchronize changes to Microsoft Active Directory (AD) users and groups for federated access to Amazon Web Services (AWS). Introduction Some customers have a well-established Active Directory Federation Service (ADFS) implementation and would like to leverage it for federated access to AWS via […]

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 […]

Integrating SAMBA 4 Active Directory with AWS IAM Identity Center

In this blog post, we will show you how to integrate an LDAP open-source solution with AWS IAM Identity Center leveraging either AWS Managed Active Directory or Active Directory Connector. Introduction Microsoft Active Directory has been a widely used identity management solution in Windows networks for decades. It delivers authentication and access protocols, such as […]

How to automate your Microsoft Windows Server upgrades using AWS Systems Manager

This blog post is the second of a four-part series on how to upgrade Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2. The focus of this series is to provide options to handle the upcoming end-of-support event in October. Part 1 overviews the end-of-support dilemma, plus how to perform an in-place, manual upgrade along with an insight […]

Embedding Amazon QuickSight analytics in .NET applications

In this blog post for .NET developers, we will discuss step-by-step instructions on how to embed Amazon QuickSight analytics in your .NET applications using QuickSight APIs and make them available for Amazon Cognito authenticated users. Amazon QuickSight Embedded analytics is a feature of QuickSight that applies data analytics to the applications used by your end users, analysts, and business leaders. QuickSight Embedded provides […]

How to load .NET configuration from AWS Secrets Manager

AWS Secrets Manager helps you protect secrets needed to access your applications, services, and IT resources. It enables you to easily rotate, manage, and retrieve secrets used by your application, eliminating the need to hard-code sensitive information in plain text. You can use the Secrets Manager client to retrieve secrets using AWS SDK for .NET. However, this would require code changes and add to the complexity of your code, as you need to invoke the client whenever you need to read data stored in Secrets Manager. Instead, you can use the .NET configuration system – an extensible API used to read and manage application secrets. This lets developers use a familiar API to access secrets in secure storage and reduce complexity by using a single code path for all environments. Additionally, the provider lets existing applications move to Secrets Manager without making any code changes.

An AWS perspective on securely managing Windows Server infrastructure at scale

In this blog, we will provide a holistic approach to help customers manage their Windows Server infrastructure securely and at scale for both cloud-only and hybrid cloud using AWS services. This approach helps our customers use more efficient, unified, and automated operational solutions for managing server infrastructure. Cloud innovations have opened new possibilities for enterprise […]

Analyze Active Directory Event logs using Amazon OpenSearch

Today, security and operation teams have to rely on security events from multiple Active Directory (AD) domain controllers for security analysis. Some key insights from the security analysis include changes to Windows Firewall, users or groups, Windows Registry, and failed login attempts etc. Centralizing these events from domain controllers and domain joined servers and computers […]

Amazon FSx for Windows File Server and AWS Managed Microsoft AD Multi-Administrator Deployment

In this blog post, I will demonstrate how to configure your Amazon FSx for Windows File Server and AWS Managed Microsoft Active Directory (AD) to give separate teams administrative control over each individual Amazon FSx for Windows File Server. I was working with a customer that deployed Amazon FSx for Windows File Server with AWS […]