ACTIVE DIRECTORY CLIENT EXTENSIONS FOR WINDOWS 9x

Even though the release of Windows XP looms, many administrators still have a lot of Windows 9x clients on their networks. While servers are moving to Windows 2000, the sheer number of clients means that there's often lag time before they can upgrade clients to Windows 2000.

Most users may find there's enough functionality in the standard Windows 9x-based clients to find and use the resources they need on their network. Of course, it's inevitable that some users will want the additional features that Active Directory client extensions provide. Here's a look at some of the added functionality.

Installing the extensions offers site awareness. A Windows 9x client can log on to the domain controller closest to the client on the network and can change passwords on any Win2K-based domain controller (instead of the PDC).

With the extensions, a Windows 9x client can also access Win2K distributed file system (DFS) fault-tolerant and fail over file shares specified in Active Directory.

An upgraded client also has access to Active Directory schema elements in the Windows Address Book. The additional information held in Active Directory for users is available in the address book, and users can search Active Directory from Start | Search | For People.

Of course, the extensions don't offer the full functionality found in Windows 2000. For example, they don't provide advanced VPN protocols, such as Internet Protocol security (IPSec), nor do they provide Win2K Group Policy functionality to Windows 9x clients.

You can find the Windows 9x-based Active Directory client extensions on the Windows 2000 CD. For more information about which Active Directory features these extensions support, check out Microsoft's Web site.

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