Password Reminder PRO
Version 1.x Features and Settings Guide
Revision 1.6.11 – Updated January 22, 2010
This guide covers new features and settings available in the current version of Password Reminder PRO.
Read this guide completely to ensure a trouble-free installation.
Password Reminder PRO is a practical solution for proactively managing password expiring and account expiring domain users.
It is the only enterprise-level "3 tier" solution designed to end expired password-related help desk calls, keep IT staff from constantly reacting to expiring password issues, and keep your domain user accounts organized with minimal effort. Installation takes 5 minutes, does not make changes to your domain, and can be fully tested in your live environment without disturbing users. Set it up once and forget it.
All software should be this good!
Contents
Installation and System Requirements: 3
Installing Password Reminder PRO: 5
Configuring Password Reminder PRO. 5
New Installation Tech Note: 6
Verifying Service Account Settings for the Automated Reminder Feature 6
Password Reminder PRO Basic Operation 9
Operation in TEST MODE: 9
Operation in LIVE MODE: 9
Advanced Features and Settings 9
Advanced Feature Examples: 9
Accessing Advanced Features: 10
Advanced Features and Settings Table: 11
Report Console Features and Description of Data Fields 17
Daily Admin Summary Report Overview 19
List Expiring User Accounts in the Daily Admin Summary Report 19
Expiring Account Summary Report Overview 21
Test Your Installation - Test Console Use 24
Test Send Reminders Without Disturbing Users 24
Reminder Settings and Customizing the Reminder Messages 28
Setting the Three Reminder Days 28
Setting “Remind Every Day” Option 28
Previewing and Editing the Email Reminder Templates 28
Personalize your Email Reminders with Dynamic Fields 30
Using Dynamic Fields in the Email Reminder Templates 30
Using Other Languages in the Email Reminder Templates 30
Screenshot of User Password Expiration Reminder Template: 31
Screenshot of Expiring Logon Manager Notification Template 32
Change the Reminder Email Subject Line Text 33
Send TEXT email reminders instead of HTML 33
AD Query Search Integration with the Report Console 34
How Password Reminder PRO Sends Emails to User Accounts 35
Reminders for Password-Expiring Service and Resource Accounts 36
Quick Facts About Using Password Reminder PRO 37
Installation and System Requirements:
HARDWARE:
100 to 5000 users in domain: Domain member server with at least 1.5ghz processor and at least 2gb of system RAM.
5000+ users in domain: Dedicated domain member server with at least 2.0ghz processor and at least 3gb of system RAM.
Installation on a Domain Controller or Exchange server is not recommended, but can be done as long as adequate system resources are available. This should be approached very carefully.
Installation on virtualized servers is supported as long as adequate system resources are allocated to handle peak processor and memory loads.
OPERATING SYSTEM:
Windows 2000 (SP4) | 2003 (x86 / x64) | 2008 (x86 / x64) | 7, Vista, XP (x86 / x64).
.NET REQUIREMENT:
.NET Version 1.1 must be installed on Windows 2000, XP and Vista prior to installing Password Reminder PRO. Server 2003, 2008 and Windows 7 comes pre-installed with .NET v1.1.
SOFTWARE SETUP:
You must be logged on to the domain member server with Administrator rights to install software.
SERVICE ACCOUNT SETUP:
You must use a domain\user account to run the installed Password Reminder PRO Service that is a member of the Domain Admins AD group, or has delegated rights to (1) Log on a Service, (2) Read / List all user objects, and (3) local administrator rights on the installation server. Open Windows Services after installation to find the Password Reminder PRO Service.
MAIL SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR REMINDERS:
You must have an available mail relay or mail server that can accept relay SMTP mail from the installation server running Password Reminder PRO.
NETWORK REQUIREMENT:
The computer running Password Reminder PRO must be connected to your internal LAN, in the same subnet or SITE container as your PDC Emulator (2000) or FSMO Role Holder (2003/2008) DCs.
It is not advised to install Password Reminder PRO in the subnet or SITE of a branch office DC.
The computer running Password Reminder PRO must have LDAP port (389) connectivity to your domain controllers and SMTP port connectivity (25) to your mail relay or mail server.
SENDING REMINDERS TO USERS:
Any mail system can be used with Password Reminder PRO. User objects do NOT have to be “Exchange Mail Enabled” or have an Exchange mailbox to receive the password expiration reminders. Our software looks at the Email field of the AD user account properties (in the General tab). You may type any email address in this field of the user account properties and Password Reminder PRO will attempt to send the expiration reminder to that email address, even if it is a Gmail or Hotmail address. You must make sure however, that your mail system is allowed to relay to any external email addresses.
This gives you ultimate flexibility with Password Reminder PRO! No matter what your email architecture is, even if some of your users only have a public email account, it will work with our software.
DOMAIN REQUIREMENT:
For the password expiration reminder feature to function, you must have your domain password change policy enabled and at least one active normal user account with a password that expires via the domain policy.
If you do not have a password policy configured yet, you can use the Report Console to help with planning and organization of your user accounts before implementing the password policy.
