Active Directory Visualization Application

Project Description

This project is designed to visualize objects within an Active Directory (AD) environment, capture various attributes of these objects, and store them in a Neo4j database. It consists of three main components:

1. Core (C#): Scans the AD environment for User, Computer, and Group objects, retrieves their attributes, and stores the data in a Neo4j database.

2. Backend (Python/Django): Provides a REST API to interact with the data stored in Neo4j.

3. Frontend (React): Visualizes the data retrieved from the backend API.

Table of Contents

• Prerequisites
• Setting up Active Directory
• Setting up Neo4j
• Core (C#) Setup
• Backend (Python/Django) Setup
• Frontend (React) Setup
• Running the Application

Prerequisites

• Windows Server with Active Directory Domain Services role installed.
• Neo4j database.
• .NET SDK.
• Visual Studio.
• Python and Django.
• Node.js and npm.

Setting up Active Directory

1. Install Windows Server: Set up a Windows Server (you can use a virtual machine using VirtualBox).

2. Install Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS):

• Open Server Manager.
• Select Add roles and features.
• Choose Role-based or feature-based installation.
• Select your server from the server pool.
• Check Active Directory Domain Services.
• Follow the wizard to complete the installation and promote the server to a domain controller.

3. Create Test Data:

• Open Active Directory Users and Computers.
• Create test users under the Users container.
• Create test computers under the Computers container.
• Create groups under the Users container (or create a new Organizational Unit).

Setting up Neo4j

1. Install Neo4j:

• Download Neo4j from the official website.
• Follow the installation instructions for your operating system.
• Start the Neo4j server.

2. Set up Neo4j Database:

• Open the Neo4j browser at http://localhost:7687.
• Log in with the default credentials (neo4j / neo4j) and change the password.
• Create constraints and indexes as necessary.

Core (C#) Setup

1. Install .NET SDK:

• Download and install the .NET SDK from the official website.

2. Install Visual Studio:

• Download and install Visual Studio from the official website.
• During the installation, select the following workloads:
  • .NET Desktop Development
  • ASP.NET and web development

3. Install NuGet Packages:

• Open your C# project in Visual Studio.
• Open the NuGet Package Manager and install the following packages:
  • System.DirectoryServices
  • System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement
  • Neo4jClient

4. Write the C# Code:

• Create a console application to connect to AD, retrieve objects, and store them in Neo4j.
• Example code is provided in the previous steps.

Backend (Python/Django) Setup

1. Install Python:

• Download and install Python from the official website.

2. Install Django:

• Open a terminal and run:

  pip install django djangorestframework neomodel

3. Create a Django Project:

• Navigate to your desired directory and run:

  django-admin startproject advisualization
  cd advisualization
  django-admin startapp api

4. Configure Django:

• Update the settings.py file to include rest_framework and neomodel.
• Configure the Neo4j connection in your settings.py:

  NEOMODEL_NEO4J_BOLT_URL = 'bolt://neo4j:password@localhost:7687'

5. Create Models and Serializers:

• Define models for User, Computer, and Group objects.
• Create serializers to handle JSON conversion.

6. Create API Views and URLs:

• Define API views to handle requests.
• Create URL patterns to map to these views.

Frontend (React) Setup

1. Install Node.js and npm:

• Download and install Node.js from the official website.

2. Create a Vite Project:

• Open a terminal and run:

      npm create vite@latest ad-visualization --template react
      cd ad-visualization
      npm install

3. Install Required Packages:

• Install Axios and React Query:

  npm install axios react-query

4. Create Components:

• Create components for listing and displaying details of Users, Computers, and Groups.

5. Fetch Data from Backend:

• Use Axios to fetch data from the Django REST API.
• Use React Query to manage server state and caching.

Running the Application

1. Start Neo4j:

• Ensure the Neo4j server is running and accessible at http://localhost:7687.

2. Run the Active Directory Environment with a VM:

• Ensure your AD environment is set up with test data.
• Create Users, Computers, and Groups in your AD environment.
• Ensure the AD environment is accessible from the machine running the C# application.

2. Run the Core (C#) Application:

• Open Visual Studio and run the C# console application to populate the Neo4j database with AD data.

3. Run the Django Backend:

• Navigate to your Django project directory and run:

  python manage.py runserver

4. Run the React Frontend:

• Navigate to your React project directory and run:

  npm run dev

• Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:5173 to view the visualization.
• The API endpoints are as follows:
  • /api/v1/users/
  • /api/v1/computers/
  • /api/v1/groups/