AD nessesary?

ScumLord

Is active directory necessary on any business network? I'm trying to convince someone that it is but their happy to use a bog standard workgroup.

10 clients, 1 server running server 2003. All they access is a Microsoft access database two of the clients have their own separate internet connections.

Capt'n Midnight

If they only access one file then AD isn't needed

if it works don't fix it !

AD is over kill for this , yes you can do lots other stuff like push software, but it can be a big headache to manage and its one more thing to go wrong.


Internet connections might raise security concerns , but access can have it's own passwords and you don't need to give everyone all the shares


in theory you could even replace the server with a NAS if it wasn't doing anything else

do they plan to expand in future , are there other services they would need that might justify it , AD can do nice stuff too

ScumLord

No can't see them really expanding much, especially with a recession on, it's all batten down the hatches and hide the purse under the bed.

This is all good news though, cheers.

gibo_ie

security wise they are crazy to use only workgroup when they have the ability to run AD. If their data is not important if it gets into others hands then leave it be i guess...

irishpartyboy

ScumLord wrote: »

Is active directory necessary on any business network? I'm trying to convince someone that it is but their happy to use a bog standard workgroup.

10 clients, 1 server running server 2003. All they access is a Microsoft access database two of the clients have their own separate internet connections.

So two clients are dialled up to internet while connected to business network?

Capt'n Midnight

gibo_ie wrote: »

security wise they are crazy to use only workgroup when they have the ability to run AD. If their data is not important if it gets into others hands then leave it be i guess...

if the local username is the same as on the standalone server / domain you can connect with
net use \\server\share /user:whatever\%username%
don't need to be on the domain at all

yes there are advanced features and lots of goodies on AD but there isn't someone on site to manage it
in this case there is just ONE shared file and ease of use / recovery is important too

if you can see the access dB you can copy it
only have that folder shared to the clients so they can't screw up the server

wsus on the server to share patches
OR do not setup a default gateway on the server so no internet traffic can reach it ( manually add a route when patching - and check is gone after reboot )