User Data Management

User data can follow the user whether the user is online and connected to the network or the user is offline in a stand-alone state. The user's data follows the user because Windows 2000 can store the data in specified network locations while making the data appear local to the user. You can configure which files and folders are available manually, set them up on a per-user basis, or configure them through Group Policy.

User Data Management ensures that the items that users create, such as personal files and documents, are easily accessible and readily available to the user. If users take their work home or on the road, these users still have access to their files. The network files that a user works with when online are automatically cached on that user's computer, and available when he or she is offline. The master version of the file is stored on a server. When users reconnect to the network, any files that they have worked on are synchronized with the network version. Synchronization ensures that users have the same experience whether they are working online or offline.

Because user files are redirected to a server, information technology (IT) staff can protect the centrally stored version of the data. If user data is lost on a local computer because a hard disk drive fails, you can restore that data from the network.

The best method to make users' data follow them is to redirect specific user data folders, such as the My Documents folder, to a network location through Group Policy, and then make this location available to the users for offline use. When a user saves a file to the My Documents folder, the file is actually saved on the network location, and the local computer is synchronized with the network copy. This synchronization occurs in the background and is transparent to the user.

The user uses the computer in the same way whether in stand-alone mode or connected to the network, and the user is therefore unaffected by temporary network outages. When a user works offline, either by choice or because of a network failure, all modifications and changes to user data are made to the local copy. When the computer is reconnected to the network, synchronization with the network copy occurs automatically. When the network copy and the local copy have both changed in the interim, the Synchronization Manager prompts the user to either save both copies or synchronize one copy with the other copy.

User Data Management technologies include Active Directory, Group Policy, Offline Files, Folder Redirection, and Synchronization Manager. These technologies ensure that data is protected, is available offline, and is available from any computer on the network.

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