Tested, trusted & part of my daily flow.
🛸 Proton VPN – Private Connection
🔐 Proton Pass – Encrypted Passwords
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Optimal Active Directory Structure
Here’s a proven Active Directory (AD) structure commonly used by large organizations, including enterprises with over 10,000 employees globally. Such environments typically implement a domain tree structured by country or continent.
Example domain hierarchy
- Root domain:
heyvaldemar.net - Child domains:
canada.heyvaldemar.net,ireland.heyvaldemar.net
Each domain in the tree follows a consistent internal structure.
Domain-Level Organization by City
- Toronto (City of Toronto)
City-Level OUs by Object Type
- Groups - All security and distribution groups
- Servers - All server objects
- Service - Service accounts used to run applications
- Users - End user accounts
- Workstations - User endpoints
Groups - Organized by Scope
- Local - Domain-local groups
- Global - Global groups
- Universal - Universal groups
- Distribution - Non-security mail groups
Servers - Organized by Service Role
- Disabled - Decommissioned or inactive servers
- Exchange - Microsoft Exchange servers
- File - File servers with shared resources
- Normal - General-purpose servers
- Print - Print servers
(More categories can be added based on operational needs.)
Service Accounts - Organized by Role
- Disabled - Inactive service accounts
- Normal - Active service accounts used in production
User Accounts - Organized by Role
- Admins - Elevated-privilege accounts
- Disabled - Former employees or inactive accounts
- External - Contractors or third-party users
- Normal - Standard user accounts
(Expand categories as needed for your organization.)
Workstations - Organized by User Role
- Admins - Devices used by admin accounts
- Disabled - Retired or unused machines
- Normal - Standard user workstations
Final Note
This structure provides a scalable, secure, and easily manageable AD layout — ideal for delegation, policy application, and compliance.
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Tools I Personally Trust
If you’re building things, breaking things, and trying to keep your digital life a little saner (like every good DevOps engineer), these are two tools that I trust and use daily:
🛸 Proton VPN - My shield on the internet. It keeps your Wi-Fi secure, hides your IP, and blocks those creepy trackers. Even if I’m hacking away on free café Wi-Fi, I know I’m safe.
🔑 Proton Pass - My password vault. Proper on-device encryption, 2FA codes, logins, secrets - all mine and only mine. No compromises.
These are partner links - you won’t pay a cent more, but you’ll be supporting DevOps Compass. Thanks a ton - it helps me keep this compass pointing the right way 💜
Gear & Books I Trust
📕 Essential DevOps books
🖥️ Studio streaming & recording kit
📡 Streaming starter kit
Social Channels
🎬 YouTube
🐦 X (Twitter)
🎨 Instagram
🐘 Mastodon
🧵 Threads
🎸 Facebook
🦋 Bluesky
🎥 TikTok
💻 LinkedIn
📣 daily.dev Squad
✈️ Telegram
🐈 GitHub
Community of IT Experts
👾 Discord
Refill My Coffee Supplies
💖 PayPal
🏆 Patreon
🥤 BuyMeaCoffee
🍪 Ko-fi
💎 GitHub
⚡ Telegram Boost
🌟 Bitcoin (BTC): bc1q2fq0k2lvdythdrj4ep20metjwnjuf7wccpckxc
🔹 Ethereum (ETH): 0x76C936F9366Fad39769CA5285b0Af1d975adacB8
🪙 Binance Coin (BNB): bnb1xnn6gg63lr2dgufngfr0lkq39kz8qltjt2v2g6
💠 Litecoin (LTC): LMGrhx8Jsx73h1pWY9FE8GB46nBytjvz8g
Is this content AI-generated?
No. Every article on this blog is written by me personally, drawing on decades of hands-on IT experience and a genuine passion for technology.
I use AI tools exclusively to help polish grammar and ensure my technical guidance is as clear as possible. However, the core ideas, strategic insights, and step-by-step solutions are entirely my own, born from real-world work.
Because of this human-and-AI partnership, some detection tools might flag this content. You can be confident, though, that the expertise is authentic. My goal is to share road-tested knowledge you can trust.