Riordan Manufacturing Active Directory Proposal
Introduction
The following is a proposal for the implementation of Active Directory within the Riordan Manufacturing organization. The primary reference for this proposal is the Microsoft guide "Best Practice Active Directory Design for Managing Windows Networks." The contents below will provide a working definition of Microsoft Active Directory, the benefits it will provide to Riordan, a base diagram of Active Directory for Riordan, and a detail analysis of the Active Directory diagram.
Active Directory
Active Directory (AD) is different from specialized and often disconnected directories. AD is designed to play many different roles within an organization. The roles range from managing Windows networks to managing directory enabled applications. (1) The bottom line is that Active Directory empowers organizations to centralize their directory management in a more streamlined, powerful and flexible manner.
Active Directory Benefits
Active Directory brings a wide range of benefits to an organization. The primary benefits stem from the use of AD as a network operating system (NOS). This proposal focuses on utilizing AD as a NOS. The following are highlights of some of the advantages of AD:
Centralized management of very large Windows networks (Active Directory is designed to support millions of objects).
The ability to eliminate resource domains, including the hardware and administration they entail.
Policy-based desktop lockdown and software distribution.
The ability to delegate administrative control over resources where appropriate.
Simplified location and use of shared resources.
(1)
An obvious theme throughout the above benefits is the centralization and s...
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...lp manage each department users per their network needs.
In conclusion AD provides very powerful and centralized NOS that can greatly benefit Riordan Manufacturing. Diagram 1 demonstrates the initial proposed implementation of AD. In the future it may become clear that modifications to this proposal may be necessary. For example, that fact that China is a joint venture and connects via satellite only, may require that China utilizes its own forest directory. Furthermore, department accounts OU's may be unnecessary in favor of simplified group assignments and permission setting within the default users containers for each site. These potential modifications only demonstrate the flexibility and power that AD offers Riordan now and in the future.
Reference:
1)http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/technologies/activedirectory/plan/bpaddsgn.mspx
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Goles, T., & Hirschheim, R. (Ed.) (1997). Intranets: The next IS solution? White Paper. Information Systems Research Center, University of Houston.