Windows XP Professional is a client OS that fully supports Active Directory (AD) and can therefore participate in a Windows 2000- or Windows 2003-based Active Directory domain network. In Active Directory integration, the client OS must be a member of the domain to allow the computer itself to gain access to any AD resources. Also, only AD-defined user accounts can use domain member clients to authenticate themselves to the network to access AD resources.
Active Directory integration also means all of your clients fully support and comply with any and all configuration and security settings defined for their AD container. This includes group policy objects (GPOs), IPSec, Kerberos, L2TP for VPNs, Distributed File System (Dfs) support, IntelliMirror, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) support, and secure channel security protocols (such as SSL, PCT, and TLS).
The most significant benefit of Active Directory integration is centralized policy-based management of clients. Through GPOs and AD containers (sites, domains, and organizational units), you can fully control how a system operates, what functions it can perform, and what features a user can access. Furthermore, you can manage GPO clients remotely. No matter where a client exists physically or logically on the network, GPOs can be applied. This includes remote connections via dial-up or VPN.
Windows XP includes numerous predefined security templates and GPOs that you can instantly employ against your network clients. Furthermore, you can fully customize any setting within these pre-existing policies, or you can create unique policies of your own. The possibilities of management and control within this flexible and expandable management solution are practically endless. Any aspect of Windows XP Professional that can be altered, configured, adjusted, or manipulated via the registry can be included in this policy-based management solution. Additionally, you can distribute, execute, or automatically install new software, patches, and customized scripts to provide even more capabilities.
Most client users find data management and system configuration to be difficult tasks. With Windows XP Professional, this management arena is easier and more powerful than ever before. The IntelliMirror features originally found in Windows 2000 are fully supported and integrated into Windows XP Professional. IntelliMirror is a feature of Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 Active Directory environments which offers three primary benefits: user data management, software installation and maintenance, and user settings management. User data management ensures that data is protected from unauthorized access and loss, is available offline, and is available from any computer on the network. This aspect of IntelliMirror employs the technologies of Active Directory, Group Policy, Offline Files, Synchronization Manager, Disk Quotas, and Folder Redirection.
User data management ensures that productivity is not hindered by changes to how or where a user connects to the network. User data is centrally stored on a network server and mapped to local access points whenever the user logs in. No matter where users perform their work -- whether from a LAN client system, a remote connection via dial-up or VPN, or on an offline system -- they can easily access their data via storage points that appear local to the users. Active Directory actively maintains the relationships between local and remote data. Disk Quotas can be used to control disk space usage.
Software installation and maintenance focuses on the distribution, installation, updating, maintenance, and removal of software throughout a network. This aspect of IntelliMirror employs the technologies of Active Directory, Group Policy, Windows Installer, and the Add/Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel. Software installation and maintenance ensures that clients on the network maintain updated applications and stay current on all available service packs and hotfixes. This feature of IntelliMirror greatly reduces the work required to maintain a consistent software environment.
User settings management focuses on managing the desktop environment of users. This aspect of IntelliMirror employs the technologies of Active Directory, Group Policy, Offline Files, and Roaming User Profiles. User settings management is more than just a roaming profile -- it gives users a seamless desktop environment no matter where they connect to the network. Furthermore, it allows administrators to control whether users can customize their desktops, control what languages are available, and manage accessibility options.
IntelliMirror is by far the most sought after feature of Windows 2000 Server for the management of Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional clients. From roaming user environments to managing software distribution to maintaining essential network data, IntelliMirror offers solid solutions to the difficult problems of client management.
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