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Thread ID: 39977	2003-11-23 23:46:00	I need some advice	zqwerty (97)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
194254	2003-11-23 23:46:00	Greetings All At the moment I am on work experience with a company that uses the internet 24/7 for their business. They have 5 late model PC’s connected on a LAN with Linux firewall and 3 network printers, any one of which may be needed to print specific tasks. The o/s is Win 2000 Professional. The problem is that when the current user password runs out every 42 days, a new password is chosen and then it seems that the printers on any other machine can no longer be accessed. There are also many other minor annoyances associated with the priorities assigned to each specific user on each computer accessing any other computer for files, printing etc. Now I have been told that all that is necessary to get round all these problems is to create a new user on each computer with administrative privileges and that should solve all these access problems. I need to know exactly how to do this, virtually keystroke by keystroke. I am worried about the solution seemingly being as simple as this and also that the system must remain online 24/7, so I cannot afford to be wrong about what I do to rectify this problem. The haphazard nature of this is due to the fact that the system has had 3 Administrators so far and none have tackled this problem. It has just been left and the problems dealt with on a piecemeal basis as they arise. Can anyone who has experience give some advice on this? I won’t necessarily do anything at all unless the solution is clear, but I would like to hear some possible solutions. Regards Rob	zqwerty (97)
194255	2003-11-24 02:30:00	or you can do it using windows 2000/2003 server. in this case you can use active directory to manage things. another solution is to use a network printer server. but that depends on your printer model as well. good luck	yang11 (170)
194256	2003-11-24 02:33:00	Is this a peer to peer network or is the Linux box used as a server as well as firewall? In Win2K a peer to peer network you need to have an account on all PC's for all users for file sharing. Printers should just require the correct permisions to share. Go here www.wown1.com to get some ideas. To be honest if you need keystroke by keystroke instructions and the company can not afford to be offline then get someone who knows what they are doing.	Berryb (654)
194257	2003-11-24 02:51:00	To add a new user with ADMIN rights . . . On each PC log-in with an ADMINISTRATOR account . . . In "CONTROL PANEL" open "USERS AND PASSWORDS" make sure that "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" check box is checked . Then CLICK-->ADD Enter desired user name and password Select User type-->"OTHERS"-->"ADMINISTRATORS" CLICK "OK" A user with ADMIN rights should have been created . As far as users having access to specific items on the various PC's . . . the best thing to do is ensure that data is saved to a pre-determined "share folder" and in the folder's sharing options select the users which are allowed to access them and also the type of access (EG read, write etc) Hope that helps a bit . cheers chiefnz	chiefnz (545)
194258	2003-11-24 02:53:00	It really looks as if they need a server/client system. And a "trained" system administrator. Any "solution" involving creating users with adminstration rights is bad news for security, and for a network which is connected to the Internet it might be fatal bad news. A "firewall" might protect you. It might not. I'd guess that what is really needed is a system with a server to manage passwords/authentication centrally. A peer-peer network will always have problems with security. The simplest solution (and not too expensive) would probably be to buy one or two (depending on how many printers one server can handle) printer server boxes. That way, the printers would just be on the netwrok as peripherals, not as printers plugged into network computers, which causes the security problems.	Graham L (2)
194259	2003-11-24 02:54:00	It really looks as if they need a server/client system. And a "trained" system administrator. Any "solution" involving creating users with adminstration rights is bad news for security, and for a network which is connected to the Internet it might be fatal bad news. A "firewall" might protect you. It might not. I'd guess that what is really needed is a system with a server to manage passwords/authentication centrally. A peer-peer network will always have problems with security. The simplest solution (and not too expensive) would probably be to buy one or two (depending on how many printers one server can handle) printer server boxes. That way, the printers would just be on the netwrok as peripherals, not as printers plugged into network computers, which causes the security problems.	Graham L (2)
194260	2003-11-24 03:27:00	Thanks for the advice so far. As I understand it the system used to have a server computer , the one I am using now, which was the gateway to the internet and was deemed to be unsatisfactory for a number of reasons and for extra internet security the Linux box was added. The reason why there are separate printers is because there are specialised jobs performed by users on particular machines which requires that they are near to the printer concerned ie the one they normally use. However every now and again someone else will need to print a specialised job on the colour printer or a lot of copies on the laser printer and this is where the problem is. Win2000 leads you into the structured security and prioritized setup which is probably what they don't need and was the reason why the first administrator left because there was so many complaints about the powerlessness of users. This was used as a technique to extract payment for the simplest of tasks to be performed. All users are familiar with Win98se, as I am, and find all this annoying password business, just that. I thought the whole idea of a network was that it should be transparent and not be a serious impediment to communication. At the moment they e-mail each other on the LAN to exchange files, although at one time they did have what they call the Z drive to get shared files from, they now no longer use it.	zqwerty (97)
194261	2003-11-24 04:05:00	Well honestly after all that and in the interest of logical computing, I would say you basically have maybe 2 options. 1) Get a professional Administrator (no offense to you) to either help you implement a working network solution or provide a network model that works. 2) Reduce the number of printers... like say maybe to 1 colour and 1 monochrome printer, I mean really, how much printing will they (5 users) be doing and how often will all of them be needing to print something at the same time off the same printer. Just sounds like they want to do stuff on a network but haven't really made any effort to structure, co-ordinate or implement what they really want it to achieve. No point in just connecting stuff without knowing what you want it to do or figuring out how it's going to do it and the implications if not complications of such a network model. Really I think you should sit down and figure out what you want your network to do for you, any network which causes excessive maintenance probably needs to re-evaluated and rebuilt to achieve a better result. cheers chiefnz	chiefnz (545)
194262	2003-11-24 04:49:00	All that is required is that anyone who wants to go anywhere on the network can do so without being asked for passwords that are out of date or setup by someone else and are now forgotten. This is a real time environment where people do not want to be nursing a computer all the time they just want get on with the job. The printing is quite intense at times and there is only 3 printers which does not seem a lot to ask to me. Why do there have to be any passwords at all. It is a close knit team where any malicious behaviour would immediately result in downtime which will mean that all will not be paid. The printers have been set up to be shared but because some computers are running in user mode and not administrator mode they require passwords.	zqwerty (97)
194263	2003-11-24 05:12:00	As suggested you really need to discuss this with the networking consultent and the "boss" to work it out. Using a public forum is quite inappropriate. Windows 200 is a network operating system and as such has a requirement for security hense the need to use passswords.	mark.p (383)
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