DirectoryInsight

DirectoryInsight™ is the only solution designed to help you plan, monitor and report on Active Directory change and growth automatically. DirectoryInsight tracks the population of directory objects over time and records key infrastructure change data, allowing you to keep Active Directory change under control throughout deployment and beyond.

Product Features

Manage Change in Active Directory

With DirectoryInsight developed by NetPro Computing Inc., you can plan, monitor and report on the deployment and growth of Active Directory. Through browser-based change reporting, you'll gather valuable insight to manage and plan for object population growth and key infrastructure modifications. Whether you're deploying for the first time or accommodating new operational needs as a result of a merger or acquisition, DirectoryInsight helps you manage Active Directory change.
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Track and Report on Object Population Growth

Measuring fluctuations in object counts is necessary for deployment. As you add sites, domain controllers, global catalogs, and other objects to Active Directory, you'll need an easy way to track and monitor your progress. DirectoryInsight automatically captures and stores this information in a central database, eliminating the need for manual counts. Current and historical reports will help you monitor Active Directory changes over time. And, if you use directory objects counts as a metric for capacity planning, DirectoryInsight's reports will provide guidance as you plan for future IT purchases.
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Eliminate Manual Infrastructure Change Logs

DirectoryInsight is the first solution to automatically record all changes to Active Directory configuration and infrastructure in a central repository. As you deploy Active Directory, changes will be necessary to fine-tune the directory for performance and to accommodate growth. You'll make replication, structure, security, and schema changes that are critical to network performance. And, DirectoryInsight is the only solution that automatically records all infrastructure and configuration changes in a secure repository, eliminating the need for hand-written or typed change logs.
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Troubleshoot Active Directory security changes quickly

When a security change happens, you need to know about it. And you need to be able to trace the history of changes in order to effectively troubleshoot them. NetPro's DirectoryInsight enables administrators to troubleshoot security issues quickly by monitoring and reporting on key security elements such as group policy objects, trust relationships, and security group memberships. With DirectoryInsight, administrators can look up a critical security change with the touch of a button, and take the necessary steps to fix the issues in record time.
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Product Benefits

DirectoryInsight provides a bird's-eye view of Active Directory and its ever-evolving world.

DirectoryInsight shows you in numbers what's out in your Active Directory sites, such as users, groups, organizational units and domains. You can see over time how information builds up. You can set up trending, track growth to see if you need to add a new domain controller in a location or change your replication schedule. And you can see the cause and effect of adding new objects.

Without DirectoryInsight it would be a very manual process to export the data from Active Directory. This is very graphical tool and you can see the data with some context.

DirectoryInsight works in conjunction with DirectoryAnalyzer, which ensures the health and performance of Active Directory.

DirectoryInsight runs as an agent on a server that monitors Active Directory's Global Catalog, which holds a replica of every object in the directory. The agent reports on changes made to the catalog and writes them to a database.

The agent also loads an ActiveX control into an administrator's Web browser, which is used to query the database. The console can create security groups so only certain administrators have access to the DirectoryInsight data.

DirectoryInsight™ automatically tracks key infrastructure changes - so you can manage Active Directory change from migration to full deployment.

Whether your company is migrating to Active Directory for the first time or growing to meet changing operational needs, changes to configuration, infrastructure and objects are inevitable. As you fine-tune Active Directory for performance and growth, you'll modify site configurations, add objects, shift FSMO roles, alter schema, and more. How do you plan to track and store those infrastructure and configuration modifications over time? And what processes do you have in place to manage and report on the constant change occurring in Active Directory?

DirectoryInsight is the only solution that tracks the population of directory objects over time and records configuration and infrastructure changes automatically. It eliminates manual change log processes and object counts, and provides instant access to a central repository of change data. With DirectoryInsight you'll be able to easily monitor Active Directory growth and manage change during and after deployment.

 

Images, Diagrams and Screen Shots

Managing Change in Active Directory
Track and Report on Object Population Growth
Eliminate Manual Infrastructure Change Logs
Troubleshoot Active Directory security changes quickly

 

White Papers, Documents and Other Files

DirectoryInsight Datasheet (PDF - 73,543 bytes)

 

Product Requirements

OS Platform Supported
Windows 2000 Server
Windows 2000 Professional
Windows NT4 Server (SP4 or higher)
Windows NT4 Workstation (SP4 or higher)

Minimum Hardware Required
CPU Pentium 300
RAM 128
HD (Install) 20MB
HD (Operating) 20MB

Additional Requirement Notes
The recommended screen resolution is 1024x768. Minimum screen resolution is 800x600.

Agent Server:
Windows 2000 server:
A domain controller hosting a global catalog, or a domain controller, or a member server Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) web server and Remote Data Services (RDS). RDS is installed with IIS.

 

FAQs

Q: Why do I need to monitor and manage infrastructure changes in Active Directory?
A: Without logs or a formal tracking system for infrastructure changes, administrators lack the information they need to effectively troubleshoot and correct performance issues in Active Directory. Additionally, without proper tracking, administrators cannot quickly determine how Active Directory is being populated over any given time period.

Q: What does DirectoryInsight do that I can’t do myself?
A: DirectoryInsight is the first solution available to help administrators manage change in Active Directory by automatically logging critical infrastructure change information. Without DirectoryInsight, managing Active Directory infrastructure changes requires the tedious and painful discipline of regular change log documentation, which is an extremely time-consuming, manual process.

Q: If I use Microsoft Management Console tools, do I still need DirectoryInsight?
A: Yes. MMC tools include several management utilities, but they do not provide a centralized repository of infrastructure change and growth data. DirectoryInsight provides that data in one centralized, secure location.

Q: Can I have more than one DirectoryInsight Client?
A: Yes. The DirectoryInsight client provides remote, web-based access to information stored in the DirectoryInsight Database. The client is implemented as a downloadable ActiveX control and can be viewed from multiple workstations through Internet Explorer 5.x or greater.

Q: What types of Active Directory changes does DirectoryInsight track?
A: DirectoryInsight provides a central repository of both current and historical infrastructure change and object population data. DirectoryInsight logs changes to the following types of infrastructure elements: structure, security, replication, and schema. DirectoryInsight also tracks additions and deletions of the following objects: GPOs, groups, OUs, domains, DCs, computers, sites, and users.

Q: What level of detail does DirectoryInsight provide?
A: DirectoryInsight's change logging feature provides the DNS name, object class, date of the modification, type of change (add, modify, delete), and a description of the current settings. For NTDS Connection settings, DirectoryInsight illustrates the replication schedule and it provides the detail you need to reverse changes if necessary.

Q: Does DirectoryInsight indicate which person made a change?
A: Version 1.0 does not provide this capability. While DirectoryInsight does not indicate which person made a change, it does allow you to find out when, where and what types of changes were made. And, this information proves to be highly valuable when troubleshooting problems. NetPro is currently considering this feature, as well as others, for a future release.

Q: Can change log information be exported?
A: Yes. DirectoryInsight allows you to export information to a CSV formatted file for viewing and manipulating in Excel or other CSV- supporting applications.

Q: How much network traffic and server overhead will DirectoryInsight generate?
A: The frequency of the agent polling intervals will determine how much overhead DirectoryInsight generates on the server. Also, if the agent is loaded on a server that does not have a global catalog, there will be additional bandwidth considerations. The precise overhead calculations have not yet been determined, however during performance testing with beta customers, NetPro received no reports of traffic issues caused by DirectoryInsight.

Q: I applied a Windows 2000 service pack and cannot connect to the DirectoryInsight client. What should I do?
A: Applying Windows 2000 service packs (which contain a Microsoft Data Access Components update) to a DirectoryInsight agent server will disable the DirectoryInsight client. You will only see the blank gray client container. A menu displays, but no tabs are available when you connect. The agent operation is unaffected, but the client is broken. To fix this, reinstall DirectoryInsight, specifying "upgrade". This will re-apply the security changes that were removed when the service pack was run

 

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