Computer Management Through Active Directory Mmc Snap-ins

By Author: Mike allen
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In a large network, it is evident to have several thousand of computers configured to individual end users. In an Active Directory structure, computers are essential AD objects which are either part of a group or individual servers. Managing these computers and servers within the internal structure of the Active Directory is done with the help of Active Directory Administration (ADAM) Tools. The Users and Computers MMC console is one such ADAM snap-in which helps administrators in computer and server management.

With the help of this snap-in console, it is possible to create a computer account, add a computer account to a group, delete computer account, search for a computer account, modify a computer account, manage remote computer, reset a computer account, move a computer account to a different group or domain, turn on or off a computer account and even allow a computer to use different DNS name. Command line tools are additionally required with these snap-ins to perform an action on the computers.

Following are the steps to be followed in order to start the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in;

1. ...
... Click Start> Programs> Administrative Tools> Active Directory Users and Computers
2. In the console tree, select Computers under the domain node

However, the procedure of using MMC consoles is quite complex and is vulnerable to errors. IT may happen at times that one is not able to open the snap-in from within the Active Directory domains even when the Ms Windows Server 2003/ 2008 R2 administration Tools Pack is installed on the system. The following error message may get displayed;

“MMC cannot open the file DriveLetter:\WINDOWS\system32\dsa.msc.

This may be because the file does not exist, is not an MMC console, or was created by a later version of MMC.

This may also be because you do not have sufficient rights to the file.”

In order to resolve this problem administrators are required to manually copy the dsa.msc file from the Syswow64 folder to the System32 folder.

Another common problem that AD administrators witness during computer management and server management is that the AD Users and Computers Console causes the computer to stop responding. This problem may arise due to some antivirus program running on the system which is working as information server. To stop this from happening often, AD administrators have to first stop the antivirus program on the system and then start the AD Users and Computers snap-in console.

Therefore, we see that while using the ADAM consoles, critical issues may crop up for Active Directory administrators. To avoid the hassles of troubleshooting such issues and work around the way of snap-ins errors, an efficient and robust solution is required.

Lepide Active Directory Management and Reporting is a standalone utility developed to help administrators in their task of computer management and server management. This tool has different features to manage different objects and resources of the Active Directory structure. Computers whether single servers of groups can be efficiently managed with the help of this tool.

This tool is efficient in creating computer groups, enabling/ disabling computers remotely, moving computers within the network or domain, modify and change the attributes, view information about their environment variables and monitor the system information of each computer. Furthermore, the software allows administrators to manage the directory attributes upon changing the directory functions of the computers. The report generation facility of this software adds to the benefits of computer management and server management.Visit for more detail:http://www.lepide.com/computers-management.html