Password Requirements and Criterion
To protect access to the domain or a computer, every user account should have a strong password. A strong password is a password that provides an effective defense against unauthorized access to a resource. It’s important to educate users about the benefits of using strong passwords and to teach them how to create passwords that are actually strong.
Passwords can be up to 127 characters. However, if your network has computers running Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me), you should use a maximum of 14 characters because these operating systems support passwords of up to only 14 characters. A minimum length of seven characters is recommended.
Password Security
Password security is a real problem and remains a fairly large security hole for many organizations and individuals. You can and should set a password policy at the domain level in order to enforce strong passwords. You’ll learn more about this in Chapter 13, “Administering Security with Group Policy.” You should also consider using a password auditing tool in order to monitor your network for weak passwords. There are several password auditing tools available.
access control list (ACL) The mechanism for limiting access to certain items of information or to certain controls based on users’ identity and their membership in various predefined groups. An ACL is typically used by system administrators for controlling user access to network resources such as servers, directories, and files and is typically implemented by granting permissions to users and groups for access to specific objects.
nested OUs The creation of organizational units (OUs) within OUs.
organizational unit (OU) An Active Directory container object used within a domain. An OU is a logical container into which you can place users, groups, computers, and other OUs. It can contain objects only from its parent domain. An OU is the smallest scope to which you can apply a Group Policy or delegate authority.
Use the Active Directory Users And Computers console to rename, move within a domain, and delete OUs. If you delete an OU that contains objects, all of the
objects that are in the OU are also deleted.
Use the Active Directory Users And Computers console to set properties for an OU. Properties provide additional information about the OU or to assist in finding the OU.
An OU is a container used to organize objects within one domain into logical administrative groups. can be added to other OUs to form a hierarchical
structure.
