22.4 Management Tools

Anyone who wishes to create or manage Group Policies will need to be familiar with a number of tools. The following sections describe a few key tools that will help you to create a low maintenance user environment.

22.4.1 Samba Editreg Toolset

A new tool called editreg is under development. This tool can be used to edit registry files (called NTUser.DAT ) that are stored in user and group profiles. NTConfig.POL files have the same structure as the NTUser.DAT file and can be edited using this tool. editreg is being built with the intent to enable NTConfig.POL files to be saved in text format and to permit the building of new NTConfig.POL files with extended capabilities. It is proving difficult to realize this capability, so do not be surprised if this feature does not materialize. Formal capabilities will be announced at the time that this tool is released for production use.

22.4.2 Windows NT4/200x

The tools that may be used to configure these types of controls from the MS Windows environment are: the NT4 User Manager for Domains, the NT4 System and Group Policy Editor, and the Registry Editor (regedt32.exe). Under MS Windows 200x/XP, this is done using the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) with appropriate " snap-ins ," the registry editor, and potentially also the NT4 System and Group Policy Editor.

22.4.3 Samba PDC

With a Samba Domain Controller, the new tools for managing user account and policy information include: smbpasswd , pdbedit , net , rpcclient . The administrator should read the man pages for these tools and become familiar with their use.