Re: Domain or Workgroup?
From: m.marien (mm)
Date: 12/19/04
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Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 07:54:25 -0600
"Guy" <Guy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FD1B7556-47A1-4274-A0CB-D498D9CCE493@microsoft.com...
> Do the same arguments workgroup vs domain count also for a home-based ICT
> business of 5 PC workstations (all WinXP Pro) with a Windows 2003 Server
> and
> a Sun-Cobalt firewall (acting as a DNS/DHCP server)? Or is a domain and AD
> overkill in this situation and a workgroup more appropriate?
>
> What are you opinions on this? Thanks
A domain isn't overkill if it can be put to use. It all depends on your
situation. The biggest benefit of a domain is centrally managed accounts.
Sometime called SSO or Single Sign On. When you logon to a workgroup, you
are logging onto a single computer. You can use the resources of another
computer if there are no passwords (Win95/98) or if you have an account on
that computer. This is a management nightmare when the workgroup gets large
and everybody needs accounts on several computers that share resources. When
you sign on to a domain, you sign on to a DC (Domain Controller) and you
have access to all the resources in the domain. If your users already logon,
changing to a domain will be transparent to them. If they don't and you
enforce logons without user consensus, be prepared for some resistance.
There are other benefits such as roaming profiles. Every account has a
profile associated with it. That is how the computer remembers your desktop
and other settings. My Documents and email are also stored in the profile.
Profiles are normally saved on the local computer. So if you use several
computers your profile will be diffferent on each computer. Roaming profiles
are stored on a central computer and copied to the computer that you logon
to. That allows you to logon to any computer and have the same profile. It's
very useful in a schools or anyplace where many users share a few computers.
It fails when users have speciallized functions or not all the software is
installed on all the computers. A book keeper can't logon to the draftsmans
computer and expect the accounting software to work as it's probably not
installed on that computer. So if your users typically sit down at the same
workstation and do specialized functions, roaming profiles will cause you
more grief then it's worth.
Your existing systems will participate well in a domain. You will have to
move the DNS role to the Win2003 computer unless the Sun-Cobalt firewall can
do dynamic DNS. The only question is, will you benefit from features in the
domain model and will your users convert easily?
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