Seamless Domain Joining with Enhanced Security: Microsoft’s JsonADDomain Extension
Joining virtual machines (VMs) to your domain is a crucial step in managing your IT infrastructure. While Microsoft’s JsonADDomain extension offers a streamlined process for this task, its prior reliance on stored domain passwords within the protected settings raised concerns among security-conscious users.
Recognizing the need for a more robust approach, Microsoft has enhanced the JsonADDomain extension to seamlessly integrate with modern security best practices.
A Modern Approach to Password Management
Security best practices advocate for storing sensitive information like domain passwords in secure vaults, utilizing managed identities for controlled access, and implementing periodic password rotation. The JsonADDomain extension’s latest iteration fully embraces these principles, allowing users to leverage key vaults for password storage and access control.
Embracing the Power of Key Vaults
The key innovation lies in the extension’s ability to work with two key vaults: primary and secondary. Each vault stores a domain password, but only one is active at any given time. When a password rotation occurs, the older vault is effectively deactivated, while the new vault becomes the active source for authentication.
The extension intelligently attempts to authenticate using the primary password key vault first. Should this attempt fail, it seamlessly switches to the secondary vault, ensuring continuous operation without interruption.
The beauty of this dual-key vault system is that it offers complete control over password storage and rotation, empowering organizations to align their domain joining practices with stringent security standards.
Configuring the Enhanced Extension
Implementing this secure configuration is straightforward through clearly defined parameters within the extension settings. Here’s a glimpse into the necessary configuration:
{
"apiVersion": "2015-06-15",
"type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/extensions",
"name": "[concat(parameters('dnsLabelPrefix'),'/joindomain')]",
"location": "[parameters('location')]",
"dependsOn": [
"[concat('Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/', parameters('dnsLabelPrefix'))]"
],
"properties": {
"publisher": "Microsoft.Compute",
"type": "JsonADDomainExtension",
"typeHandlerVersion": "1.3",
"autoUpgradeMinorVersion": true,
"settings": {
"Name": "[parameters('domainToJoin')]",
"OUPath": "[parameters('ouPath')]",
"User": "[concat(parameters('domainToJoin'), '', parameters('domainUsername'))]",
"Restart": "true",
"Options": "[parameters('domainJoinOptions')]"
},
"protectedSettings": {
"PrimaryPasswordKeyVault": {
"KeyVaultUri": "[parameters('primaryKeyvaultUri')]",
"ManagedIdentityClientId": "[parameters('managedIdentityClientId')]"
},
"SecondaryPasswordKeyVault": {
"KeyVaultUri": "[parameters('secondaryKeyvaultUri')]",
"ManagedIdentityObjectId": "[parameters('managedIdentityObjectId')]"
}
}
}
}In essence, you define the URIs for your primary and secondary key vaults within the "protectedSettings" section, along with the corresponding managed identity details for secure access. While specifying both a ManagedIdentityClientId and a ManagedIdentityObjectId is not permitted, either one can be used effectively.
Microsoft’s updated JsonADDomain extension empowers organizations to elevate the security of their domain joining processes, ensuring a seamless and secure integration between VMs and your network infrastructure.
What are the steps IT administrators need to take to configure the Key Vault integration for Azure VM domain joining using the JsonADDomain extension?
## Enhanced Security for Azure VMs: An Interview with a Cloud Security Expert
**Interviewer:** Welcome to the show! Today, we’re diving into the world of Azure VMs and security with our guest, [Guest Name], a cloud security expert. Thanks for joining us.
**Guest:** Thanks for having me.
**Interviewer:** Now, joining virtual machines to a domain is essential for managing an IT infrastructure. We’ve heard much about Microsoft’s JsonADDomain extension, which streamlines this process. However, there were some concerns about security practices like storing domain passwords directly in the extension.
**Guest:** That’s right. Storing passwords directly within the extension wasn’t ideal. It didn’t align with modern security best practices. But Microsoft has definitely taken user feedback to heart and introduced some impressive enhancements.
**Interviewer:** So, how has Microsoft addressed these security concerns?
**Guest:** They’ve shifted focus to leveraging Azure Key Vaults for secure password storage and management [[1](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/57091694/azure-trying-to-join-vm-to-domain-using-jsonaddomainextension-in-terraform)]. By using Key Vaults, the actual patswords are not directly stored within the extension itself, minimizing the risk of exposure.
**Interviewer:** That sounds promising. Can you elaborate on this dual-Key Vault system?
**Guest:** Absolutely! The initiative utilizes both a primary and a secondary Key Vault. Each vault stores a copy of the domain password, but only the primary vault is active at any time. When password rotation occurs, the older vault becomes inactive, while the new vault with the updated password becomes the primary source.
**Interviewer:** That seems like a very robust solution for ensuring continuous operation and security. Any challenges for IT administrators in implementing this new approach?
**Guest:** The configuration process is quite straightforward.
Microsoft provides clear and concise parameters within the extension settings to define the Key Vault integration [[1](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/57091694/azure-trying-to-join-vm-to-domain-using-jsonaddomainextension-in-terraform)].
**Interviewer:** Excellent! Thank you, [Guest Name], for shedding light on these significant security enhancements for Azure VM domain joining.
**Guest:** You’re very welcome. I believe these advancements are a big step towards securing cloud infrastructure.
