Hi all,does someone know a tool / management solution, that can be used to centrally manage non-domain integrated windows servers?Please note the "non-domain integrated".One out of some tasks I want to accomplish is e.g. the centralized management of local user accounts and groups.I searched the internet, but didn't find anything.Thanks, kind regards MMF

Hello MMF, I am afraid there is no such a tool that can centralized manage the local users and groups account that on several workgroup computer. To centralized manage users and group account, you may consider promote a server to be a domain controller. Active Directory is a good solution to manage user and groups. Thanks.This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hi MMF, Please understand in order to perform central management of resouces microsoft has come up with a technology called Active directory which wasnt present in legacy server ( NT ). Active directory provides you the way to centrally manage the users by creating appropriate policies, OU's , sites etc...without out AD if you want to manage few clients then we could think about different methods / solutions but not centrally managed. one such example would be collecting WMI events of the user from machines using batch file or script but it would be nightmare to manage things without AD ( w.r.t users ) sainath !analyze

Hi David, hi Sainath,thanks for your answers, and I am totally aware of Active Directory being the best technology to manage Windows Servers (and I have a solidknowledge about this topic).But a forest / domain is not always the answer, and e.g. for a highly splintered DMZ with multiple separated networks, one had to either weakenthe firewall rules or to put two domain controllers in every network zone (availability is critical).And exactly - it is a nightmare, but a real one. Scripting is certainly one possibility, but maybe one of the many software companies out there have seen the need for such a solution.But - if there is no solution (other than AD), that's an answer too :)Thanks a lot,MMF

Hi MMF, Yes. You may have aware that the only possible solution to collect the users and groups account on separated workgroup computer in the non-domain environment is to do with scripting. We have our Script Center, and you can find some samples there. Script Repository: Active Directory http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/scripts/default.mspx?mfr=true If you encounter any problem on scripting/coding, I suggest you initial a new thread to get further support in the MSDN forum. The community members and support professionals there are more familiar with script and can give you a support in an efficient way. For your convenience, I have list the link to MSDN forum. MSDN forum http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/categories/ Thanks for the understandings.This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.