Documenting AD
The documentation is a vital part of the admin’s day. It’s time consuming and when there are changes to the system, it’s you who got to update the documentation. That can be boring!
Remember that outdated (or may I call it tombstoned?!) documentation can be worse than no documentation!
If you’re a System consultant that got the job setting up a domain, it’s always nice to hand over some documentation of the domain to the company that hired you.
Don’t worry, the help is out there just waiting for you! Microsoft have a great utility called “Active Directory Topology Diagrammer”. It reads the configuration of your domain/forest and generates/updates a Visio drawing of the hole domain/forest! Including all domain controllers, global catalogs, trusts, OU structure, sites, schema version, SP level, user count and so on.
Just tick the checkboxes you want and hit the “Discover” button. After a few seconds the discovery completes. Go get yourself a cup of nice warm coffee, press the “Draw” button and enjoy your coffee while ADTD populates the Visio drawing for you
This tool can also draw your Exchange organization.
Download a free copy of ADTD here
If you don’t have Visio available you can download a 60 days free trial from MS here.