XP Pro Upgrade

[herme3]

The company I work for currently has Windows XP Home edition on their computers. They want to upgrade to Windows XP Pro because they've been told it will give them better control over what employees can do on the computers. They want to lock all web sites besides ones required for work, and they want to prevent employees from installing games and other programs on the computers.

 

I'm really not sure how upgrading to Windows XP Pro is going to help them. I think you can create a limited account to prevent people from installing programs, but isn't that already on Windows XP Home edition?

 

I feel that upgrading to Windows XP Pro would be a waste of money, but I really don't know all the features of Windows XP Pro. Can you please give me your opinion? Thanks.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Blocking all websites besides those for work would be trivial without XP Pro - just find a program such as Websense or any other content control program. In fact, XP Pro doesn't even offer such a feature, as far as I know.

 

To prevent users from installing games, a limited account in XP Home won't cut it. Some programs can install without administrative priveleges (though not all). XP Pro offers that feature, I believe, but there may be cheaper alternatives.

[Rakdos]

If they run a Active Directory, XP pro is the only version of XP that offers Active Directory Support, IIRC.

 

Other than that, I'm not real sure what else XP pro has to offer.

[herme3]

Can you please explain what exactly is an Active Directory?

[Pangloss]

It's network server technology. It basically involves a specialized (SQL-based) database running on the server which maintains (amongst other things) all the usernames and passwords, so that your login credentials are carried with you from one computer to the next. In other words, you don't have to create individual accounts on each server or workstation -- they come from a centralized administrative location.

 

In order to participate in AD you have to "join the domain", which is something that they just blocked XP Home from doing so that businesses would have to buy the more expensive version.

[herme3]

It's network server technology. It basically involves a specialized (SQL-based) database running on the server which maintains (amongst other things) all the usernames and passwords' date=' so that your login credentials are carried with you from one computer to the next. In other words, you don't have to create individual accounts on each server or workstation -- they come from a centralized administrative location.

 

In order to participate in AD you have to "join the domain", which is something that they just blocked XP Home from doing so that businesses would have to buy the more expensive version.[/quote']

 

Actually, I believe that is what they plan to do. They bought a new server, and they are going to setup all the users on the network. So, would upgrading to Windows XP Pro be a good option for them? I've never worked with servers before, so I really don't know. A professional networking company will actually setup the server and upgrade the computers, but I'm just trying to make sure they aren't trying to trick us into purchasing any upgrades we won't need.

 

The last company that did computer work for us tried to trick us into paying $200,000 for a bunch of stuff that we wouldn't even use. I just want to make sure this other company isn't doing the same thing by making us buy Windows XP Pro.

[Pangloss]

Well... sure. The thing is, if you only have one server then the main advantage of AD is somewhat moot. It's when you grow to larger numbers that it starts to get useful. For single servers and less than, say, 50 users, a solution involving AD is usually not indicated.

 

See, look at it this way. Let's say you build a network with ten workstations and one central server to store files in shared directories, give everyone access to a printer, and so forth. You put a bunch of user accounts on it using the standard Users and Groups tool, and you're all set. You don't need AD for this.

 

Then a few years go by, and your company grows, and one day you realize that your old server can't handle the file-serving load anymore -- you've got 75 users and they're all complaining about how slow it is. So you decide to buy a second server.

 

Well now you have a significant problem: You have to create a whole new set of user accounts on that new server -- the exact same accounts that you already have on the original server. That's a lot of duplicated effort! And there are long-term issues to consider. For example, if you change someone's password on one server then you have to remember to change it on the other one too.

 

Now imagine if you have 50 servers. Get the picture?

 

AD solves this by centralizing your user accounts so that this is no longer an issue. It's a very highly automated and specialized SQL database, spreading the workload between participating servers and managing all kinds of disparate information (like those pesky user accounts) all around your network.

 

There are other approaches, of course, and not all of them work like this. But to answer your question, it really only helps you if you have multiple servers. Make sense?

[Dream Master]

Yes, you will need Win Xp Pro. Win Xp Home doesn't allow the implementation of domain and thus active directory won't work. However, Win Xp Pro does allow workstations to join a domain. Win Xp Pro can also manage the network using the network administrative tools downloaded from Microsofts website.

[herme3]

Well... sure. The thing is' date=' if you only have one server then the main advantage of AD is somewhat moot. It's when you grow to larger numbers that it starts to get useful. For single servers and less than, say, 50 users, a solution involving AD is usually not indicated.

 

See, look at it this way. Let's say you build a network with ten workstations and one central server to store files in shared directories, give everyone access to a printer, and so forth. You put a bunch of user accounts on it using the standard Users and Groups tool, and you're all set. You don't need AD for this.

 

Then a few years go by, and your company grows, and one day you realize that your old server can't handle the file-serving load anymore -- you've got 75 users and they're all complaining about how slow it is. So you decide to buy a second server.

 

Well now you have a significant problem: You have to create a whole new set of user accounts on that new server -- the exact same accounts that you already have on the original server. That's a lot of duplicated effort! And there are long-term issues to consider. For example, if you change someone's password on one server then you have to remember to change it on the other one too.

 

Now imagine if you have 50 servers. Get the picture?

 

AD solves this by centralizing your user accounts so that this is no longer an issue. It's a very highly automated and specialized SQL database, spreading the workload between participating servers and managing all kinds of disparate information (like those pesky user accounts) all around your network.

 

There are other approaches, of course, and not all of them work like this. But to answer your question, it really only helps you if you have [i']multiple[/i] servers. Make sense?

 

Well, we are only going to have one server to share files and everything. There will only be 5 users at the office with the server, and I don't think the number of users there will grow. However, the company does have other offices with computers. There are probably around 30 total users at all of the offices combined. The company plans to link all of the offices together over the Internet, and keep all of the user accounts on the server. Will they need Windows XP Pro and an Active Directory to do this?

[Pangloss]

Well, we are only going to have one server to share files and everything. There will only be 5 users at the office with the server, and I don't think the number of users there will grow. However, the company does have other offices with computers. There are probably around 30 total users at all of the offices combined. The company plans to link all of the offices together over the Internet, and keep all of the user accounts on the server. Will they need Windows XP Pro and an Active Directory to do this?

 

Yes.