If you are passionate about being a network or domain administrator, then managing users and groups will give you a lot of satisfaction . . . it can be a very powerful position in a company. On the other hand, unless you understand the fundamentals, manage the processes sensibly, and learn the tools and resources, it can become an extremely frustrating responsibility. Our administration mantra is: Use your common sense and learn to do it right before you take up the task. This chapter helps you to get the best out of the Windows 2000 user and group management philosophy and tools | Managing Users and Groups If you are passionate about being a network or domain administrator then managing users and groups will give you a lot of satisfaction . . . it can be a very powerful position in a company. On the other hand unless you understand the fundamentals manage the processes sensibly and learn the tools and resources it can become an extremely frustrating responsibility. Our administration mantra is Use your common sense and learn to do it right before you take up the task. This chapter helps you to get the best out of the Windows 2000 user and group management philosophy and tools. Despite Microsoft s Zero Administration Windows ZAW initiative user and group management has become a lot more complex in Windows 2000. The complexity has a lot to do with the improved User and Group objects and the new support in Active Directory such as Group Policy. Combined with the burden of integrating Windows NT and earlier networks the administrative task will not be easy in the short-term. This might improve over the years because many companies and especially administrators are certain to develop tools for the Active Directory that automate the repetitive stuff and enhance the experience of working with Active Directory and we touch on that in here . In that the directory is open and supports a widely available API ADSI and access protocol LDAP we have to give credit where credit is due. For example you can extend the User and Group objects to suit your enterprise requirements or custom applications. What you will learn in this chapter will put you on the road to such advanced administration. In this chapter we will study User and Group objects and understand their function. We will entertain user management practice and policy with respect to user groups and computers. We will also discuss the process of integrating legacy Windows NT accounts with Windows 2000 domains and how to sensibly manage users and groups on Windows 2000 mixed and native mode .
