Re: How does a regular user (not a "server" guy) use Active Directory to make their job easier?

From: Thomas H (thomash_03_i_dont_checkit_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 04/13/04 

Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 12:03:15 -0400

"Dave Harry" <DaveHarry@please.keep.replies.in.the.newsgroup> wrote in
message news:OGeC0kRHEHA.328@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
>
> Hi Thomas
>
> Let's see if I can point you in the right direction, bit by bit...
>
> > Do they use Network Neighborhood (in Win2k Pro) to search the "entire
> > network" to find the Active Directory, and to find servers that the
shares
> > are on?
>
> Yes, they can. Under XP you can also copy UNC shares to "My Network
Places"
> and rename them to something meaningful like "Accounting Stuff". You can
> probably do something similar in Windows 2000.

Dave, thanks for the reply! I actually set up a test XP box on my test
network, and was able to copy/rename UNC's. I also found out about
publishing the shares into active directory, which is pretty slick. It
never occurred to me that I could do "new share" in the AD, i was just used
to making a new group/ou/computer/dc/etc in the AD.

> > Do I map drives out for them in their login scripts, and they just deal
> > with drive letters inside My Computer?
>
> If they're used to drive letters, that could be a good way. Especially if
> you have any legacy apps that require a DOS drive letter. Use login
scripts.
> You can even map to a Win share in a Novell login script, if you're used
to
> it.
> #net use x: \\server\share.....etc

So far, I think that's the best plan for the "normal" users. I like the
idea of roaming user profiles, but I don't like the idea of the My Documents
folder being redirected -anywhere- onto the server. I could just see some
user offloading 10 CD's into MP3's and putting them into his/her My Docs
folder! (We had that happen once; our backup was still running when I came
in- I checked the console, and all these MP3's were getting backed up.) If
I map a drive for them just for Word/Excel stuff, they can keep using their
MyDocs for whatever they want.

> > I can't seem to find anything about this on the 'net... everything I
find
> is
> > from my point of view, and talks about server names and domains and
UNC's
> > and shares and etc. But I know that to a regular user, they'll just
think
> > "I need marketing's directory"- and they'll be stuck. Yes I plan on
using
> > DFS to make things easier; and that publishes to Active Directory. But
> how
> > will a regular user get to Active Directory to find the DFS root? Or do
I
> > put a shortcut to the DFS root in their "my network places"? (And then
> how
> > would they find things like printers?)
>
> I'd steer away from DFS in a small network. You're only going to
complicate
> things, especially is you're in transition from NetWare. The NW client
> someitmes has trouble with DFS, and a common tweak is to disable it.

Actually we're not quite small, I guess you'd call us medium-sized? We've
got a bit over 100 clients in two offices (more in one office), and I'd be
pulling them in small groups from Novell to Win2003. Thanks for the tip
about the NW client / dfs interoperability! It shouldn't be a problem
though, because once I move the clients over onto the Win2k network, I'll
remove the Novell client from their machines. What I like about DFS is that
I could put a semi-decent server in the second (smaller) office, have file
shares on both sides, and use DFS to chain 'em together. I'm even toying
with the idea of using FRS. Then if our link goes down, one office can
still work unti the link's restored. I'll probably even map the F: drive
for their files so they won't notice any difference!

> Thomas, WHY OH WHY are you heading AWAY from NetWare? What version do you
> have?
> Though Windows makes a nice graphic interface and has plenty of extras,
> NetWare is by far a superior "File Server", even with Version 4.
> I don't want to dump on Win completely, for we are in their newsgroup, but
> for example Windows still has no direct replacement for Salvage. Shadow
Copy
> is a lot nicer than its previous nothingness, but not quite there yet.
> I'd keep your NW server *as well* for any critical file serving.
>
> Sing out if you need more help
>
> --
> Dave Harry

Well, at it's basics, I've always preferred Windows NT 3.5, 4.0, and 2000.
We're on Netware 5.1, but we're more of a Microsoft shop. The Novell
servers have only been used for file sharing and printers, while everything
else (including Oracle) has gone onto Windows servers. Plus I'm not a fan
of the new Netware systems, so I wouldn't upgrade- and I wouldn't run 5.1
forever, either. I've used Netware for the past 10 years, started at
version 3.12 (even took a class at the local college for my CNA but never
went for the test), upgraded to 4.2, and finally upgraded to 5.1. But, now
that we can get rid of Netware, we're going to. I just want to make this
migration as seamless as possible for the users!

Thanks again!

-Thomas

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