I am the network administrator for several primary schools in England. We use Ranger from Sentinel and Classlink from Viglen to add/edit/remove users and computers, change group settings such as access and shell limitations like not allowing RUN on task bar and no right clicking. Basically these suites of software allow us to manage the network users and security easily and fast.
A similar piece of software we don’t use is Winsuite, again geared towards education.
Now my question is this… I have alway wondered how business network managers manage their networks I would like to move across from Education and also find any cheaper management tools as our current ones cost and arm and a leg.
Do businesses use any software free, opensource or subscribed to manage all this for them or do businesses use IT support companies and staff that simply use Active Directory for all of the above? Or do more adept people create batch files for mass tasks etc?
I am curious to know what software makes your network tick. I am of course referring to Windows Server 2000 and 2003.
Are there any free domain management tools from microsoft of anyone else out there? Are there any support sites in this area?
It would be great and cost saving for us to ditch the current software as it is a huge drain on our IT budgets.
Thanks
John