DigitalPersona Pro for Active Directory: Administrator Guide

Chapter 2 - Key Concepts & TerminologyConceptsOrganizational Units (OUs)An OU is a container within an Active Directory domain. An OU may containusers, groups, computers, and other OUs, which are known as child OUs. Youcan link a GPO to an OU, and the GPO settings will be applied to the users andcomputers that are contained within that OU and its child OUs. To facilitateadministration you can delegate administrative authority to each OU. OUsprovide an easy way to group users, computers, and other security principals,and they also provide an effective way to segment administrative boundaries.Users and computers are generally assigned to separate OUs, because somesettings only apply to users and other settings only apply to computers.One of the primary goals of an OU structure design for any environment is toprovide a foundation for a seamless Group Policy implementation that applies toall workstations in Active Directory and ensures that they meet the securitystandards of your organization.The OU structure must also be designedto provide adequate security settings forspecific types of users in anorganization. For example, developersmay need some permissions thataverage users do not need to have. Also,laptop users may have slightly differentsecurity requirements than desktopusers.The figure on the right shows a basicOU structure for illustration of theconcept only, and is not a recommendationto create your OU structurein the same way. Your OU structuremust be defined by the specificorganizational requirements of yourenvironment.Pro Biometric Authentication ProcessDigitalPersona Pro for Active Directory Administrator Guide13