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In Windows NT User Administration, the authors focus on one aspect of NT administration: user management. This book gives administrators sufficient background knowledge for dealing with domains, users, and groups, and it points administrators to the appropriate management resources.
Meggitt and Ritchey rely heavily on Perl for solutions to common administrative headaches, but you don't need to be a Perl guru to understand most of this book. The authors present a brief introduction to Perl, but I recommend checking out Learning Perl on Win32 Systems by Randal L. Schwartz, Erik Olson, and Tom Christiansen (O'Reilly and Associates, 1997).
The book opens with a discussion of the most appropriate strategies for creating users. Meggitt is a computing officer for a large university, so her bias for account creation leans towards large institutions and focuses on bulk-user creation. Smaller shops with fewer users may not need as much as that provides. User Manager for Domains is discussed in detail, as well as the net user command. Template and dummy account creation and management are also examined.
Another chapter deals with NT security and access control lists in relationship to users and groups. It also introduces the concept of resource groups, grouping your users on the basis of the resources they are allowed to access. For many organizations, this is the preferred method of dealing with large numbers of users. Group permissions, such as user rights and auditing, that are outside the file system are mentioned.
The chapter on managing users through scripting proved to be the most useful in the book. There is a detailed examination of logon scripts and the available variables for the scripts. Another section is dedicated to creating users through a Perl script. Other sample Perl scripts include checking a directory tree for user permissions and removing users.
The chapter on controlling the user is also useful. A tutorial for the System Policy Editor is provided, as well as an explanation on how to create your own policy templates. Local and roaming profiles are explained, and a Perl script is provided for distributing applications via the user profile. The book also discusses different domain models, auditing by using Perl, and modifying the Registry with Perl.
Windows NT User Administration is a neat book for experienced NT administrators, and some of the tips in the chapters will save you time. If you are familiar with Perl and are looking for a practical administrative application for your skills, then you must read this book.
-- Cory L. Scott