Using the same AD account on multiple machines
largo99
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kelux Posted messages 3065 Registration date Status Contributor Last intervention -
kelux Posted messages 3065 Registration date Status Contributor Last intervention -
Hello,
One of the teachers who uses the computer lab at our school shares the same account when their students log in on the PCs.
In other words, the same profile is loaded nearly simultaneously on about twenty different machines. Is this really okay? Isn't it much heavier in terms of synchronization for the server and bandwidth usage?
It seems logical to me not to use the same user account on multiple machines at the same time, right?
Thank you in advance for your advice.
Largo
Configuration: Windows / Chrome 46.0.2490.71
One of the teachers who uses the computer lab at our school shares the same account when their students log in on the PCs.
In other words, the same profile is loaded nearly simultaneously on about twenty different machines. Is this really okay? Isn't it much heavier in terms of synchronization for the server and bandwidth usage?
It seems logical to me not to use the same user account on multiple machines at the same time, right?
Thank you in advance for your advice.
Largo
Configuration: Windows / Chrome 46.0.2490.71
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1 answer
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Good evening,
Just be careful, you are mixing up two concepts, namely "user account" and "user profile."
You can indeed use an account on multiple machines without any issues.
- User account: there is AD domain account or local account (specific to each machine)
- User profile: it can be local or roaming.
A domain user account does not, by default, have a roaming profile.
When configuring an AD account to have a roaming profile, it is not stored in Active Directory, but on a file server dedicated to this purpose.
For example, I can use an AD domain account that does not have a roaming profile and connect on multiple machines without any problem. There will be a profile that is local and specific to each machine.
If the profile is roaming and used on multiple machines at the same time, there can be corruption issues during profile synchronization (upon logging off).
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I can provide other elements, but we need to clarify the nature of the account and the profile. As for performance, your assumption is debatable: nature of the account+profile, size of the AD environment, performance of the AD controllers, etc...
We also need to look at other parameters to validate your question: performance of authentication (when logging in with 20 AD users at the same time) and performance of the dedicated server for storing roaming profiles (copying the profile upon session opening) + profile size.
Using a registry "compactor" on top of a registry "cleaner" would be equivalent to rinsing your throat with a swig of Jack Daniels after swallowing a pint of snake oil....-
Thank you for your response.
I'm going to have to look into that because I don’t have the answers right away. Indeed, I’m a bit confused between account and profile, all of this is not very clear for me since I’m not familiar with it. I’ll take a look the next time I log into the server to see if it’s a roaming profile or not.
Have a good evening -
Hello,
I returned yesterday to our school's location where we have the AD server and I ran some tests: I created a new user account in the AD, then I logged in with this account on the first computer and created a file "Test 1" that I saved on the Windows desktop. I then logged out of that computer and logged back in on another PC, and the Test 1 file was indeed on the desktop. So there is synchronization and roaming profile, right? I observed that the synchronization only happens if I log out of PC 1 with the account before logging in on PC 2.
Given this behavior, I deduce that the accounts are meant to be used on one PC at a time (these are pre-configured accounts of the "Student" type; you have to clone a model account titled Student00 when you want to create a new one).
One thing I couldn't explain, though, is this: we have half of the PCs running Windows XP and the other half with Vista. The synchronization does not work between the two different types of PCs: if I create the Test 1 file on the desktop of an XP PC, log out, and then log in on a Vista PC with the same account, the Test 1 file never appears. I have done the test several times, and the synchronization only works between PCs with the same OS. Additionally, I noticed that on the Vista PCs, access to the user's personal space on the shared disk (individual "Shares" directories on the server, mapped as H: for the users) was not accessible.
I'm not sure if this information helps you understand the type of accounts we have? It's probably a bit confusing... -
Hello,
You have conducted tests to see the behavior; however, you didn't really check how the profile is configured for roaming:
There are 2 ways to do this:
- either through the redirection of "folders" (my documents/desktop, etc...) via GPO.
- or on the account itself: user account properties > profile tab > Profile path.
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As for the difference with XP and Vista, it's normal; the profile version starting from Vista has changed (V2 profile), and XP and Vista no longer share the same profile version.
So this is completely expected and is normal behavior (and known; a quick internet search would detail this for you).
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Nonetheless, I remind you that you can use a roaming profile account without any issue on multiple machines at the same time... it is the last user to disconnect who will publish their "version."
There are risks of profile corruption, but even without using it on multiple machines, a roaming profile can become corrupted in the same way; we are just multiplying the chances of that happening.
From a performance standpoint, if the profile is 1GB, it is obvious that it will take a long time, and at that point, you need to monitor the server that stores the profiles... if it's 20MB, I don't see any issues.
What is the problem if the Professor tells his students to use the same account?
It must be noted that with the same profile, all students are guaranteed to have the same environment; and if he wants to publish something for all the students, he does it via the profile folder... but these are just assumptions, as we do not know how or why the professor made this choice.
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Furthermore, I noticed that on the PCs with Vista, access to the user's personal space on the shared disk (individual "Shares" directories on the server, mapped as H: for the users) was not accessible.
Do not mix everything up ;-) each problem one after the other.
You say it seems confusing; that's normal if you "mix all the problems" ;-)
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