Best Practice: Use Unique IDs for All Simultaneous Users

1,0 Introduction

This document provides best-practice information about using unique IDs for all simultaneous users on a shared host computer on an NComputing system.

2,0 Reasons for Using Unique User IDs

NComputing recommends using unique user IDs for all users simultaneously connected to the same host for the following reasons. If you do not use unique user IDs:

• Under certain circumstances, the Windows operating system in use might confuse two users who logged in using the same user ID and provide information, including sensitive information like financial data, to the wrong user. As an example, if Juan and Susie both log in with the same user ID on stations connected to the same host computer on an NComputing system, it’s possible that Juan’s Quicken® data could be displayed on Susie’s monitor.
• Certain application programs might not allow one user to start the application or open a file if another user (with the same user ID) has already logged in and started the application and/or opened the file. For example, if Susie and Juan log in with the same user ID, and Susie starts the Mozilla Firefox™ browser, Firefox might not allow Juan to start Firefox on his station.

3,0 Best Practice in Workgroup and Domain Environments

You should use unique user IDs in both workgroup and domain environments. In general, use a unique user ID for every station that will access the host. If you have five stations in a workgroup that access the same host computer, you should create at least five unique user IDs for that system. If you have fifty users accessing the same host system on a server in a domain environment, you would need at least fifty unique user profiles for that system. HINWEIS: These fifty user profiles can be used to log onto multiple hosts. This does not mean you need to create a unique user profile for every user who may potentially access the system; you simply need to create unique user profiles for the number of users who might access the system at the same time.

In some environments, the same user IDs have been used to make it easy for users to remember the user ID and password. For example, elementary schools often use the same ID for all PCs because students are not expected to manage their own unique IDs. In this kind of environment, NComputing still recommends setting up unique user IDs for all stations – but encourages the use of the Automatic Login feature available with all NComputing products. With this feature, the user ID and password can be stored in the system so that when the stations are powered up, the sessions log in automatically, each with their own unique ID. Refer to the user manuals and release notes for the respective products for instructions on setting up automatic login.