Note: Many topics at this site are reduced versions of the text in "The Encyclopedia of Networking and Telecommunications." Search results will not be as extensive as a search of the book's CD-ROM.

Accounting services are provided by some network operating systems to track the usage of resources and the users who access those resources. Accounting systems also provide network asset tracking. Typical network resources tracked by accounting systems include

• Files accessed


• Disk space used


• User logons and logoffs


• Messages transferred by users


• Bytes transferred by users


• Applications started


• Access to resources such as printers and databases

In most cases, it is possible for the administrator or supervisor of a network or server to set limits on the amount of time a user can access the system, the amount of disk space a user can use, and the resources a user can access. Users can be granted a certain amount of time or access to resources, which gets used up as the user accesses the resources. The user can then request or purchase additional time or resources. The values are tracked in the user's account. The accounting system in NetWare can track and charge users for blocks read and written to disk, connect time, or service requests.

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