Administer large numbers of users with UserManagemeNT Lite
Derek C. Schauland, TechRepublic.com
Published: 21 May 2003 12:30 BST
The general settings for accounts under Windows NT/2000 contain many subsettings, which you can also configure in User ManagemeNT. The general settings are:
- Description
- Password And Expiration
- Home Directory
- Permissions
- Home Directory Drive
- User Profile Path
- Profile Permissions
- Logon Script Name
- Share
- Share Path
- Share Permissions
- Run
Template management, that is, specifying the global groups that are tied to a specific template, is also available here. This allows you to create a user account using a specified template and automatically tie this account to each of the global groups tied to the template, making it extremely simple to grant group membership to a user.
UserManagemeNT Lite also allows you to configure the user management software itself. You can specify things like templates, directories, and Exchange and Printer settings. These are found by clicking the Configuration tab's Configure Tasks button.
To gather network data for this software, click the Load Network Data button. This will collect all the domain information and other object information for use by the software. Figure F shows the UserManagemeNT Information dialog box for loading network data.
Figure F
Start gathering UserManagemeNT network data.
The last configuration option is Delegation, which allows you to delegate tasks when creating an account. This makes administration even easier because you won't have to worry about delegating tasks at a later date.
Some alternatives
If you want to speed up the process of dealing with large numbers of users, UserManagemeNT Lite is a good place to start. However, it's not the only available solution. The following alternatives aren't free, but they do a little more than UserManagemeNT Lite:
- UserManagemeNT Professional -- This commercial version of UserManagemeNT Lite costs $595 (£362) for up to 250 users, and it offers more sophisticated features.
- Hyena -- Priced at $199 (£121) for a single-user license, this software package manages user and group resources on Windows networks.
- DameWare -- This British product, priced at $213 (£129), handles remote administration tasks as well as user and group management for Windows NT.
Editorial disclaimer: The authors and editors have taken care in preparation of the content contained herein but make no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for any damages. Always have a verified backup before making any changes.
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