Conclusion

Windows 2000 security is both simple and complex. It is simple in that virtually nothing is required to take advantage of it because the security is tightly tied to the operating system. It is complex because it allows you to reference the built-in security system to leverage the existing system. That, however, requires more than a cursory understanding of the operating system.

In between simple and complex is the ability to impersonate another user. If a server is accessing existing Win32 objectssuch as directories, files, and registry entriesthe server application can take on the cloak of another user and use the simple part of Windows 2000 security to perform the task at hand. And if the application needs to gofurtherto control access to server-specific resourcesthe tools are there to allow that, albeit at the cost of some additional complexity.