Nt1330 Unit 1 Case Study

Part of managing a Windows Server 2003 network environment requires an administrator to be familiar with both of the different security models that can be implemented along with the roles that a server can hold. The two different security models used in Windows network environments are the workgroup model and the domain model. Please discuss in 500-600 words both options and explain why you would choose one over the other for your implementation.

When configuring windows networking, two major approaches are valid to secure all the network resources, the workgroup approach and the Domain approach. The workgroup approach is simply to create a windows peer-to-peer network with a decentralized security system. This workgroup security approach
Some advantages of using this type of scenario include the ability to manage windows workgroup since has a small number of computers that can be managed individually. Application servers, services or workstation software can be run off one or few machines rather than employing extensive active directory schema changes to be accomplished in a domain model. Complying with third party vendors' software and hardware can be achieved in a simple manner and migrating or installing new operating systems is an easy task that it would not be an option in a Windows Active Directory domain.

This simplicity comes to a price since by deploying a windows workgroup, other functionality and advantages of a Domain model is lost or not applicable and security can be compromised. For example, when deploying a patch or fix, each workstation has to be configured individually. Another example is that installing a new application in each computer requires the installation and configuration of each machine. Furthermore, in this model when user connect via VPN if they transmit copies of their files unencrypted, the security of the network and information is