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AD-DOM-03: Domain controller count should be retrievable

ID AD-DOM-03
Severity Info
Suite Active Directory (on-premises)
Product Active Directory
Feature Domain controllers
Security area Infrastructure hardening
Resource type DomainController
Reads from On-premises Active Directory

Understanding the number and distribution of domain controllers in your domain is critical for:

  • High Availability: Ensuring sufficient DCs exist to handle authentication load and provide redundancy
  • Disaster Recovery: Knowing how many DCs need to be recovered in a disaster scenario
  • Site Coverage: Verifying that all sites have appropriate DC coverage for local authentication
  • Capacity Planning: Determining if additional DCs are needed based on user and computer growth

Operational

  • Minimum Redundancy: Maintain at least 2 DCs per domain for fault tolerance
  • Geographic Distribution: Place DCs strategically across sites to ensure local authentication
  • RODC Consideration: Consider Read-Only Domain Controllers (RODC) for branch offices
  • Regular Monitoring: Track DC health and availability as part of your security monitoring

This test retrieves all domain controllers from Active Directory and counts them. It also lists the names of all DCs for easy reference.

  • Test-MtAdDomainFunctionalLevel - Retrieves the domain functional level
  • Test-MtAdForestDomainCount - Counts domains in the forest

Mito check. Author: soulemike. Open-source licences.

Open-source licences. CIS Benchmark material © Center for Internet Security, Inc.; CISA SCuBA baselines are public domain (CC0).

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