Managing Network Accounts
The Five Management Areas
1. User administration. Creating and deleting user accounts. Giving users access to resources. Solving problems with user accounts.
2. Resource management. Installing, configuring and trouble-shooting disks, printers, modems and other network resources.
3. Network Configuration Management. Planning the network. Planning how it will be enlarged. Keeping documents describing the network.
4. Performance management. Monitoring the performance of the network. Locating ‘bottlenecks’ and finding solutions.
5. Maintenance. Employing policies designed to prevent problems - such as keeping backups. Finding problems and solving them.
Administrator’s Responsibilities
These include:
1. Creating and Managing user accounts.
2. Managing security.
3. Training and supporting users.
4. Installing new software and upgrading existing software.
5. Making backup copies of programs and data.
6. Managing the use of disk space.
7. Protecting the network against viruses.
8. Solving problems.
9. Adding new hardware to the network.
Creating User Accounts
When a new student or teacher joins our college, the Network administrator must make a new account for them on the network.
To make a new account he must enter the following information:
1. The users full name.
2. The name the user will use on the network - e.g. ‘JI’ or ‘Teacher’ or ‘96005432’.
3. The permissions that the user has to access network resources. Which programs can she use? Which printers can she access? How much disk space can she use?
4. What is her starting password? How often must she change her password?
5. What is the name and location of her ‘home’ directory?
Profiles
A profile in Windows NT is like a login script in Netware. It is created by the administrator and it customizes a user’s environment. For example, the administrator can control:
1. Which printer her jobs default to.
2. The initial sizes and positions of her windows.
3. What icons she sees.
4. Screen colors.
5. Screen savers.
The Administrator Account
When NT is installed onto the server an account called administrator is created. ‘Administrator’ has rights to everything on the network. The administrator is the person who can create new user accounts. (She can also create other administrators with limited power to manage the network.)
Passwords
All users should use passwords. Passwords should not be things like the users name. Users should not keep their passwords written on ‘Post-It’ notes stuck to their monitor.
Group Accounts
Working with every user individually would be too time consuming for administrators. Instead, they create groups. A group is an account that contains other accounts. For example, there may be a group account for this class. The accounts of each student in the class belong to this group account. The administrator would give rights to the group account and in this way all members receive those rights. Groups are used to give users access to resources such as files, directories and printers.
Disabling a User Account
To disable an account is to stop it working without permanently removing it from the system. In some colleges a student’s account will be disabled if she has overdue books from the library.
Deleting an Account
When a student leaves the college her account is permanently removed from the network.
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