Question

You know you’ll be creating several users for each department in csmtech.local. Users in each department will have some common attributes, specifically membership in their departmental groups and information in the Organization tab’s Department and Company fields. Create a user template for each department. What are some best practices you should follow when creating this user template?

Answer 1

Creating a user template. This template can be used for multiple departments with the required attributes configured. I would always test the template before doing a mass input. This steps will show you how to setup a User Template in the sales department.

1. As Administrator open Active Directory Users and Computers.
2. Click to expand the Marketing OU and then click the Sales OU.
3. In the Sales OU, create a group named Sales-A with the default group scope and group type. You’ll add the user template to this group so that all Sales OU users belong to this group by default.
4. In the Sales OU, create a user with the full name _Sales Template, the logon name _SalesTemplate, and the password Password01. Make sure the Account is disabled and User must change password at next logon check boxes are selected.
5. After you’ve created this user, right-click the _Sales Template user and click Properties.
6. In properties you can change an assortment of attributes. 7 – 9 are some samples of attributes.
7. Click the Account tab. You can change times and days the computer are accessible by the user.
8. Click the Organization tab. Sales in the Department text box,
9. Click the Member Of tab. Add the account to the Sales-A group. Click OK until the Properties dialog box is closed.
10. In the right pane of Active Directory Users and Computers, right-click the _Sales Template user and click Copy. Type Sales in the First name text box, Person1 in the Last name text box, and sales1 in the User logon name text box, and then click Next.
11. Type Password01 in the Password and Confirm password text boxes. Notice that the Account is disabled check box is selected because you set this option for the _Sales Template account. Click to clear the Account is disabled check box, and then click Next. Click Finish.
12. Right-click Sales Person1 and click Properties. Arrange the Properties dialog box so that you can see the _Sales Template user in Active Directory Users and Computers. Right-click _Sales Template and click Properties. Arrange the two Properties dialog boxes side by side so that you can compare them. Make sure the General tab is visible in both.
13. Notice that no fields in the template’s General tab were copied to the Sales Person1 user. Click the Address tab in both Properties dialog boxes and notice that the Street field wasn’t copied but the rest of the address was. Click the Organization tab and notice that only the Job Title field wasn’t copied.
14. Click the Member Of tab in both Properties dialog boxes and notice that the group membership was copied.

You will create a template for other department the same way with the correct names and associations. The information inputted in general, address, and organization tabs was not completely copied. This are some minor configurations that will require some manual input. Best practices for creating user templates. You will always disable the template account, so it is not a security risk. The underscore is a simple way of recognizing that it is a template considering the list is alphabetical order, it will always be at the top of the list. Use the same password for all user templates. Even though its considered in an article “configure the password so it does not expire” (IT Professionals, 2005)