NetPro beefing up Microsoft Active Directory tools suite

Latest tool helps reduce help desk calls from users who have forgotten their passwords.

Directory management vendor NetPro Tuesday unveiled the second installment of a three phase roll out of new tools to help corporate users better manage Microsoft’s Active Directory.

The company Tuesday released SelfServiceADmin, a Web-based tool that lets users reset their own passwords. Self-service password administration is targeted at reducing help desk calls from users who have forgotten their passwords. As much as 30% of help desk calls are for password reset, according to NetPro officials.

The release of SelfServiceADmin comes three weeks after the company released access management software designed to help users understand who has what access rights not only on Active Directory but also on other resources on a corporate network.

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Directory management vendor NetPro Tuesday unveiled the second installment of a three phase roll out of new tools to help corporate users better manage Microsoft’s Active Directory.

The company Tuesday released SelfServiceADmin, a Web-based tool that lets users reset their own passwords. Self-service password administration is targeted at reducing help desk calls from users who have forgotten their passwords. As much as 30% of help desk calls are for password reset, according to NetPro officials.

The release of SelfServiceADmin comes three weeks after the company released access management software designed to help users understand who has what access rights not only on Active Directory but also on other resources on a corporate network.

AccessManager uses role-based delegation to automate and enforce who has access to resources such as files, folders, printers and other Windows-based services.

The software also includes a reporting engine to aid in auditing and compliance requirements, and can manage the provisioning and de-provisioning of policies.

Next month, the company will release ReportADmin, which automates compliance reporting. ReportADmin and SelfServiceADmin are the two newest tools in NetPro’s Active Directory Administration Suite.

The suite also includes RestoreADmin, GPOADmin, and LogADmin, which is slated to ship next month. NetPro is developing a single agent that resides on a server and integrates with all the tools in the suite.

With SelfServiceADmin users can either type an intranet URL into their browsers to a Web page for the self-service features or they can press control-alt-delete on their keyboards and click on an option to go directly to the self-service Web page.

Users answer a series of questions in order to obtain their forgotten passwords or change to a new one. The software can be integrated with a company’s established password policies, such as the requirement to use letters and numbers in a password.

“In the end, it is a pretty simple solution,” says Brad Hibbert, vice president of strategy for NetPro.

SelfServiceADmin, which is priced at $3 per user, also has auditing and activity tracking features and integrates with SQL Server Reporting Services.

The ReportADmin tool also integrates with SQL Server Reporting Services and integrates with the Microsoft Management Console.

With ReportADmin users can report on any object or attribute in Active Directory. The software ships with more than 50 custom built reports and tools for users to write their own reports.

ReportADmin is priced at $5 per user.

NetPro competes with Quest Software and NetIQ with its directory management software.

Read more about infrastructure management in Network World's Infrastructure Management section.