How does N-central gain access to Active Directory user account information?

N-central automatically imports user account data whenever you install an agent on an Active Directory domain controller. The agent brings all user account information into your N-central environment, making it available for management without additional configuration.

What user account actions can be performed from the N-central interface?

Technicians can unlock locked accounts, enable or disable accounts, delete accounts, reset passwords with the option to require password change at next login, and filter/search for specific users. All actions can be performed either through toolbar buttons or by right-clicking directly on user accounts.

Managing Active Directory Users in N-central

Name: Managing Active Directory Users in N-central
Uploaded: 2026-05-12T20:28:39-04:00
Duration: 3 min 56 s
Description: N-able Head Nerd Paul Kelly walks you through the essentials of managing on-premise domain user accounts using N-able N-central. Despite the shift to cloud services, many MSP customers still rely on on-premise Active Directory. Learn how to efficiently...

N-able

05/12/2026

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TL;DR

N-central provides centralized management of on-premise Active Directory user accounts through agents installed on domain controllers, eliminating the need to access multiple customer environments separately.
Common help desk tasks including password resets, account unlocking, enabling/disabling accounts, and user deletion can all be performed directly from the N-central interface with filtering and search capabilities for large directories.
All domain user management actions are logged in a comprehensive audit trail that tracks technician activity, date, domain, action type, and details for security and compliance purposes.

Summary

This tutorial demonstrates how MSPs can manage on-premise Active Directory user accounts directly from N-able N-central's centralized interface. Paul Kelly, N-able Head Nerd, walks through the complete workflow for domain user management, starting with agent installation on Active Directory domain controllers and progressing through common help desk tasks like password resets, account unlocking, and user account lifecycle management. The demonstration covers navigation through the domain user management interface, filtering and search capabilities for large user directories, and the security audit trail that logs all technician actions. Despite the industry shift toward cloud services, many MSP customers continue to rely on on-premise Active Directory, making this centralized management capability essential for efficient service delivery. The feature allows technicians to perform routine account maintenance tasks without switching between multiple management consoles, streamlining operations for both service organization-level and customer site-level administration.

Chapters

0:00 - Introduction to Domain User Management
0:35 - Accessing Domain User Management Interface
1:01 - User Account Actions and Operations
1:40 - Filtering and Search Capabilities
3:20 - Security Audit Trail

Key Quotes

0:06 "Despite, in recent years, the shift to cloud services, a large cohort of MSP's customers still use on-premise Active Directory."
0:24 "Anytime you install an agent onto an Active Directory domain controller, it allows it to bring all the user account information into your end central environment so you can manage those users."
3:20 "Security obviously is very important when it comes to user management and all the actions that are carried out by a technician within domain user management are logged within the audit trail."

Categories:

» Cybersecurity » Endpoint Security
» Data Protection

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