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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

  • 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/