GuidesLearn AD in 15 Minutes a Week: Windows 2000 Network Environment Overview...

Learn AD in 15 Minutes a Week: Windows 2000 Network Environment Overview Page 2

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Windows Workgroups

Windows workgroups are a grouping of networked computers
that share out their resources. Workgroups are often referred to as peer-to-peer
networks because all computers in the workgroup share resources as equals
without the presence of a dedicated server or a centralized database of user accounts. Each
computer in the workgroup maintains a local security database. These systems may
be Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional or from the Windows 2000
Server family. Each would have a local security database with a list of user
accounts and their respective security information for the computer or server on
which it resides. The administration of user accounts and resource security in a
workgroup is said to be decentralized for this reason.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – On peer-to-peer
networks, servers running any level of Windows Server operating system that are
not a member of a Windows 2000 domain are called stand-alone servers.

Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional and
the Windows 2000 Server family can participate in a workgroup or as domain
members. Windows NT4 Workstation, Windows NT4 Server, Windows NT4 Server
Enterprise Edition as well as Windows NT4 Terminal Server can be included in
these as well. For the purposes of concentrating on Active Directory discussion
I will not refer to them often, but it’s good to know that these down-level
operating systems could be included as well.

When setting up, using and administering a peer-to-peer
network, there are a number of advantages and disadvantages. Some disadvantages
are:

Users need to have a user account on each system where they
will need access to the local resources on that system. If the account is not
set up the same on each machine (e.g. username and password) users would then
need to remember what name and password combinations are required on which
systems.

Changes made to user accounts must be made on each computer in the workgroup. A
user that needs to update their password for access to files on workstation A and the printer on workstation
B and the database on server DB would need to update the password at each resource. (Or the local admin of each resource would need to do
it for the user.)

A workgroup becomes difficult to administer in environments with more than 10
local security databases.

[NOTES FROM THE FIELD] – On peer-to-peer
networks, workstation level operating systems are limited to 10 concurrent
connections by design, meaning, that once all ten connections are made, via
logons, drive mappings, browsing the network, or printing to a printer, all
additional connections will be refused, regardless of the user. Even a local
administrator would not be allowed to make a network connection in this case.

Workstation level operating systems include Windows NT4
Workstation, Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional.

If a Windows Server level operating system is in use in
a peer-to-peer environment, it will not limit the number of connections, as it
does not have this connection limit design.

Windows peer-to-peer networks do have a couple of
advantages as well.

Peer-to-peer networks do not require having the more
expensive Windows Server family of operating system installed to hold
centralized security information. If there are just a few users who need access
to three or four systems, installing the more expensive operating system doesn’t
make sense.

A peer-to-peer workgroup is simple to design and implement and does not require
the extensive planning and administration that goes into a domain. Also, each
local system owner (hence, administrator) is in charge of their own resource. If
there are just a few users who need access to three or four systems, making each
local system owner responsible for their own resource and local accounts as
opposed to one higher level administrator is usually more convenient in this
scenario.

A peer-to-peer workgroup is only convenient for a limited number of systems.

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