Difference between “People” and “Users” OU in Active Directory
In the default Active Directory, there is ou=Users,dc=example,dc=com and, beneath that, ou=People,ou=Users,dc=example,dc=com. What is the distinction between the intended purposes of the two?
It seems like maybe ou=Users would contain service accounts, whereas ou=People is specifically for real people, but I cannot find any documentation of this. For that matter, is there documentation anywhere on the rationale behind this layout?
active-directory
asked Nov 24 '18 at 15:48
Jonathan WilburJonathan Wilbur
1388
add a comment |
In the default Active Directory, there is ou=Users,dc=example,dc=com and, beneath that, ou=People,ou=Users,dc=example,dc=com. What is the distinction between the intended purposes of the two?
It seems like maybe ou=Users would contain service accounts, whereas ou=People is specifically for real people, but I cannot find any documentation of this. For that matter, is there documentation anywhere on the rationale behind this layout?
active-directory
asked Nov 24 '18 at 15:48
Jonathan WilburJonathan Wilbur
1388
1
People who aren't users can, for example, be contacts, whose contact details (email address etc) are stored in AD. People could be members of a distribution group in AD, but obviously not of a security group.
– Joe
Nov 24 '18 at 16:18
add a comment |
In the default Active Directory, there is ou=Users,dc=example,dc=com and, beneath that, ou=People,ou=Users,dc=example,dc=com. What is the distinction between the intended purposes of the two?
It seems like maybe ou=Users would contain service accounts, whereas ou=People is specifically for real people, but I cannot find any documentation of this. For that matter, is there documentation anywhere on the rationale behind this layout?
active-directory
asked Nov 24 '18 at 15:48
Jonathan WilburJonathan Wilbur
1388
In the default Active Directory, there is ou=Users,dc=example,dc=com and, beneath that, ou=People,ou=Users,dc=example,dc=com. What is the distinction between the intended purposes of the two?
It seems like maybe ou=Users would contain service accounts, whereas ou=People is specifically for real people, but I cannot find any documentation of this. For that matter, is there documentation anywhere on the rationale behind this layout?
active-directory
active-directory
asked Nov 24 '18 at 15:48
Jonathan WilburJonathan Wilbur
1388
asked Nov 24 '18 at 15:48
Jonathan WilburJonathan Wilbur
1388
asked Nov 24 '18 at 15:48
Jonathan WilburJonathan Wilbur
1388
asked Nov 24 '18 at 15:48
Jonathan WilburJonathan Wilbur
1388
asked Nov 24 '18 at 15:48
Jonathan WilburJonathan Wilbur
1388
1388
1
People who aren't users can, for example, be contacts, whose contact details (email address etc) are stored in AD. People could be members of a distribution group in AD, but obviously not of a security group.
– Joe
Nov 24 '18 at 16:18
add a comment |
1
People who aren't users can, for example, be contacts, whose contact details (email address etc) are stored in AD. People could be members of a distribution group in AD, but obviously not of a security group.
– Joe
Nov 24 '18 at 16:18
1
1
People who aren't users can, for example, be contacts, whose contact details (email address etc) are stored in AD. People could be members of a distribution group in AD, but obviously not of a security group.
– Joe
Nov 24 '18 at 16:18
People who aren't users can, for example, be contacts, whose contact details (email address etc) are stored in AD. People could be members of a distribution group in AD, but obviously not of a security group.
– Joe
Nov 24 '18 at 16:18
add a comment |
1 Answer
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It's entirely up to the administrators of the domain to decide. There is no standard. There is some documentation about how to organize it here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/plan/reviewing-ou-design-concepts
This describes the default containers in Active Directory: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/plan/delegating-administration-of-default-containers-and-ous
Out of the box, Users is actually a container, not an OU (CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com - notice the CN=). The only difference is that only OUs can have group policies applied to them, but containers cannot.
If yours is actually an OU, that means that someone has already changed that.
To my knowledge (but maybe I'm wrong) there is also no People OU out of the box, so that must have been added by someone.
answered Nov 24 '18 at 18:09
Gabriel LuciGabriel Luci
10.5k11424
add a comment |
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It's entirely up to the administrators of the domain to decide. There is no standard. There is some documentation about how to organize it here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/plan/reviewing-ou-design-concepts
This describes the default containers in Active Directory: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/plan/delegating-administration-of-default-containers-and-ous
Out of the box, Users is actually a container, not an OU (CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com - notice the CN=). The only difference is that only OUs can have group policies applied to them, but containers cannot.
If yours is actually an OU, that means that someone has already changed that.
To my knowledge (but maybe I'm wrong) there is also no People OU out of the box, so that must have been added by someone.
answered Nov 24 '18 at 18:09
Gabriel LuciGabriel Luci
10.5k11424
add a comment |
It's entirely up to the administrators of the domain to decide. There is no standard. There is some documentation about how to organize it here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/plan/reviewing-ou-design-concepts
This describes the default containers in Active Directory: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/plan/delegating-administration-of-default-containers-and-ous
Out of the box, Users is actually a container, not an OU (CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com - notice the CN=). The only difference is that only OUs can have group policies applied to them, but containers cannot.
If yours is actually an OU, that means that someone has already changed that.
To my knowledge (but maybe I'm wrong) there is also no People OU out of the box, so that must have been added by someone.
answered Nov 24 '18 at 18:09
Gabriel LuciGabriel Luci
10.5k11424
add a comment |
It's entirely up to the administrators of the domain to decide. There is no standard. There is some documentation about how to organize it here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/plan/reviewing-ou-design-concepts
This describes the default containers in Active Directory: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/plan/delegating-administration-of-default-containers-and-ous
Out of the box, Users is actually a container, not an OU (CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com - notice the CN=). The only difference is that only OUs can have group policies applied to them, but containers cannot.
If yours is actually an OU, that means that someone has already changed that.
To my knowledge (but maybe I'm wrong) there is also no People OU out of the box, so that must have been added by someone.
answered Nov 24 '18 at 18:09
Gabriel LuciGabriel Luci
10.5k11424
It's entirely up to the administrators of the domain to decide. There is no standard. There is some documentation about how to organize it here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/plan/reviewing-ou-design-concepts
This describes the default containers in Active Directory: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/plan/delegating-administration-of-default-containers-and-ous
Out of the box, Users is actually a container, not an OU (CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com - notice the CN=). The only difference is that only OUs can have group policies applied to them, but containers cannot.
If yours is actually an OU, that means that someone has already changed that.
To my knowledge (but maybe I'm wrong) there is also no People OU out of the box, so that must have been added by someone.
answered Nov 24 '18 at 18:09
Gabriel LuciGabriel Luci
10.5k11424
edited Nov 24 '18 at 20:32
answered Nov 24 '18 at 18:09
Gabriel LuciGabriel Luci
10.5k11424
answered Nov 24 '18 at 18:09
Gabriel LuciGabriel Luci
10.5k11424
answered Nov 24 '18 at 18:09
Gabriel LuciGabriel Luci
10.5k11424
10.5k11424
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People who aren't users can, for example, be contacts, whose contact details (email address etc) are stored in AD. People could be members of a distribution group in AD, but obviously not of a security group.
– Joe
Nov 24 '18 at 16:18