The tool does not implement any changes to infrastructure. All access is read-only.
Active Directory Topology Diagrammer (hereinafter – the tool) should be run in all of the on-premises forests in case there are more than one.
The tool can be run in any domain of the forest. There is no need to run it from all of the domains within the given forest.
To read and draw Active Directory topology “Domain Users” group membership privileges is sufficient;
To read and draw Exchange Organization diagram – “View-Only Organization Management” group membership is required.
If you need to draw both Active Directory and Exchange diagrams then run the tool under account that has Exchange read access (View-Only Organization Management) because it definitely has read access to Active Directory as well.
2. Software Prerequisites
Active Directory Topology Diagrammer has the following requirements:
Windows 2000 Server, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-Bit x86), Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 editions, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows XP 64-bit, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016;
Go to “File Block Settings” and unselect checkbox in front of “Visio 2000-2002” files as shown on Figure 4. This setting will prevent the error when drawing Visio diagram in last steps.
If you receive following (Figure 5) pop up about missing prerequisite component, then go to Server manager (for Windows Server operating system) or Programs and Features (for Windows client operating system) and install missing components (Figure 6).
Fill the server/domain field with the name of domain controller (FQDN or NetBIOS names are acceptable). Make sure you replaced the server name shown on Figure 13 with your real domain controller name.
Tick Highlighted checkboxes as shown on Figure 13.
Go to the “Exchange” tab and select checkboxes as highlighted on Figure 16.
Warning! If you run the tool under account that does not have read access to Exchange (View-only organization management), then you will not be able to get the Exchange Diagram and this checkbox will be greyed out after clicking “Discover”. Please run the tool under account that has Exchange read access because it definitely has read access to Active Directory as well.
Click on the “Discover” button and wait for the tool to gather required information. After it finishes click “Draw” button and wait for the tool to draw all required infrastructure components in Visio.
After all the drawing are finished, go to drop-down list “Tools” and select “Options” (Figure 20).