User Accounts

User Accounts

In most instances, a user account is created for each individual on the network and is meant for use only by that one person. This account generally is a contracted form of the person’s name or some other unique value, and no two users can have the same username in a single user database. At their most basic level, user accounts consist of three required elements:

A username. This element distinguishes one account from another.
A password. This element confirms the user’s identity. Individual passwords should be kept private to avoid unauthorized access.
The groups of which the user is a member. These groups determine the user’s rights and permissions on the network.

A number of other optional components—such as a home directory (a place where a user can store personal files on the network)—or specific information about the user—such as his full name or description—exist, but none of these is crucial to the functioning of the account in the way that the elements enumerated above are. In Exercise 8.1, you create a very basic user account and observe some of the available options.

Remember that if you are on a NetWare network, you will manage users and network resources with either Syscon or NWAdmin. Microsoft does not test you on the usage of these utilities.