diff --git a/plstackapi/core/admin.py b/plstackapi/core/admin.py
index e53b245..7e19cf1 100644
--- a/plstackapi/core/admin.py
+++ b/plstackapi/core/admin.py
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 from plstackapi.core.models import Site
 from plstackapi.core.models import *
 from django.contrib import admin
+from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
+
 from django import forms
 from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 from django.contrib.auth.admin import UserAdmin
 from django.contrib.admin.widgets import FilteredSelectMultiple
+from django.contrib.auth.forms import ReadOnlyPasswordHashField
 
 
 class ReadonlyTabularInline(admin.TabularInline):
@@ -83,22 +86,6 @@
     inlines = [NodeInline,]
     search_fields = ['name']
 
-class UserForm(forms.ModelForm):
-    class Meta:
-        password = forms.CharField(widget=forms.PasswordInput)
-        model = User
-        widgets = {
-            'password': forms.PasswordInput(),
-        }
-
-class UserAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
-    form = UserForm
-    fieldsets = [
-        ('User', {'fields': ['firstname', 'lastname', 'email', 'password', 'phone', 'user_url', 'is_admin', 'site']})
-    ]
-    list_display = ['firstname', 'lastname', 'email', 'password', 'phone', 'user_url', 'is_admin', 'site']
-    search_fields = ['email'] 
-
 class KeyAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
     fieldsets = [
         ('Key', {'fields': ['name', 'key', 'type', 'blacklisted', 'user']})
@@ -112,6 +99,7 @@
 
 class SubnetAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
     fields = ['cidr', 'ip_version', 'start', 'end', 'slice']
+    list_display = ('slice','cidr', 'start', 'end', 'ip_version' )
 
 class ImageAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
     fields = ['image_id', 'name', 'disk_format', 'container_format']
@@ -136,7 +124,7 @@
         model = Sliver
         widgets = {
             'ip': PlainTextWidget(),
-        } 
+        }
 
 class SliverAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
     form = SliverForm
@@ -145,6 +133,85 @@
     ]
     list_display = ['ip', 'name', 'slice', 'flavor', 'image', 'key', 'node', 'deploymentNetwork']
 
+
+class UserCreationForm(forms.ModelForm):
+    """A form for creating new users. Includes all the required
+    fields, plus a repeated password."""
+    password1 = forms.CharField(label='Password', widget=forms.PasswordInput)
+    password2 = forms.CharField(label='Password confirmation', widget=forms.PasswordInput)
+
+    class Meta:
+        model = PLUser
+        fields = ('email', 'firstname', 'lastname', 'phone', 'site')
+
+    def clean_password2(self):
+        # Check that the two password entries match
+        password1 = self.cleaned_data.get("password1")
+        password2 = self.cleaned_data.get("password2")
+        if password1 and password2 and password1 != password2:
+            raise forms.ValidationError("Passwords don't match")
+        return password2
+
+    def save(self, commit=True):
+        # Save the provided password in hashed format
+        user = super(UserCreationForm, self).save(commit=False)
+        user.set_password(self.cleaned_data["password1"])
+        if commit:
+            user.save()
+        return user
+
+
+class UserChangeForm(forms.ModelForm):
+    """A form for updating users. Includes all the fields on
+    the user, but replaces the password field with admin's
+    password hash display field.
+    """
+    password = ReadOnlyPasswordHashField()
+
+    class Meta:
+        model = PLUser
+
+    def clean_password(self):
+        # Regardless of what the user provides, return the initial value.
+        # This is done here, rather than on the field, because the
+        # field does not have access to the initial value
+        return self.initial["password"]
+
+
+class PLUserAdmin(UserAdmin):
+    class Meta:
+        app_label = "core"
+
+    # The forms to add and change user instances
+    form = UserChangeForm
+    add_form = UserCreationForm
+
+    # The fields to be used in displaying the User model.
+    # These override the definitions on the base UserAdmin
+    # that reference specific fields on auth.User.
+    list_display = ('email', 'site', 'firstname', 'lastname', 'last_login')
+    list_filter = ('site',)
+    fieldsets = (
+        (None, {'fields': ('email', 'password')}),
+        ('Personal info', {'fields': ('firstname','lastname','phone','site')}),
+        #('Important dates', {'fields': ('last_login',)}),
+    )
+    add_fieldsets = (
+        (None, {
+            'classes': ('wide',),
+            'fields': ('email', 'firstname', 'lastname', 'phone', 'site', 'password1', 'password2')}
+        ),
+    )
+    search_fields = ('email',)
+    ordering = ('email',)
+    filter_horizontal = ()
+
+# Now register the new UserAdmin...
+admin.site.register(PLUser, PLUserAdmin)
+# ... and, since we're not using Django's builtin permissions,
+# unregister the Group model from admin.
+admin.site.unregister(Group)
+
 admin.site.register(Site, SiteAdmin)
 admin.site.register(SitePrivilege)
 admin.site.register(Slice, SliceAdmin)
@@ -156,6 +223,5 @@
 admin.site.register(Flavor)
 admin.site.register(Key, KeyAdmin)
 admin.site.register(Role, RoleAdmin)
-admin.site.register(User, UserAdmin)
 admin.site.register(DeploymentNetwork, DeploymentNetworkAdmin)
 
diff --git a/plstackapi/core/fixtures/initial_data.json b/plstackapi/core/fixtures/initial_data.json
index 47f5175..638b00d 100644
--- a/plstackapi/core/fixtures/initial_data.json
+++ b/plstackapi/core/fixtures/initial_data.json
@@ -1 +1,167 @@
-[{"pk": 1, "model": "core.deploymentnetwork", "fields": {"updated": "2013-04-03T22:57:09.331Z", "name": "VICCI", "created": "2013-04-03T22:57:09.331Z"}}, {"pk": 2, "model": "core.deploymentnetwork", "fields": {"updated": "2013-04-03T22:57:15.013Z", "name": "VINI", "created": "2013-04-03T22:57:15.013Z"}}, {"pk": 3, "model": "core.deploymentnetwork", "fields": {"updated": "2013-04-03T22:57:23.015Z", "name": "PlanetLab Classic", "created": "2013-04-03T22:57:23.015Z"}}, {"pk": 4, "model": "core.deploymentnetwork", "fields": {"updated": "2013-04-03T22:57:29.569Z", "name": "GENI", "created": "2013-04-03T22:57:29.569Z"}}, {"pk": 1, "model": "core.site", "fields": {"updated": "2013-04-05T15:21:04.135Z", "name": "Princeton University", "created": "2013-04-03T23:00:10.085Z", "tenant_id": "", "enabled": true, "longitude": -74.6524, "site_url": "http://princeton.edu/", "login_base": "princeton", "latitude": 40.3502, "is_public": true, "deployments": [3, 4], "abbreviated_name": ""}}, {"pk": 2, "model": "core.site", "fields": {"updated": "2013-04-05T15:42:36.517Z", "name": "Stanford University", "created": "2013-04-03T23:03:51.742Z", "tenant_id": "", "enabled": true, "longitude": -122.172, "site_url": "http://www.stanford.edu/", "login_base": "stanford", "latitude": 37.4294, "is_public": true, "deployments": [], "abbreviated_name": ""}}, {"pk": 3, "model": "core.site", "fields": {"updated": "2013-04-05T15:42:17.263Z", "name": "Georgia Institute of Technology", "created": "2013-04-03T23:05:51.984Z", "tenant_id": "", "enabled": true, "longitude": -84.3976, "site_url": "http://www.gatech.edu/", "login_base": "gt", "latitude": 33.7772, "is_public": true, "deployments": [], "abbreviated_name": ""}}, {"pk": 4, "model": "core.site", "fields": {"updated": "2013-04-05T15:39:27.501Z", "name": "University of Washington", "created": "2013-04-03T23:09:52.337Z", "tenant_id": "", "enabled": true, "longitude": -122.313, "site_url": "https://www.washington.edu/", "login_base": "uw", "latitude": 47.6531, "is_public": true, "deployments": [], "abbreviated_name": ""}}, {"pk": 5, "model": "core.site", "fields": {"updated": "2013-04-05T15:38:56.889Z", "name": "ETH Zuerich - Computer Science", "created": "2013-04-03T23:14:11.072Z", "tenant_id": "", "enabled": true, "longitude": 8.54513, "site_url": "http://www.inf.ethz.ch/", "login_base": "ethzcs", "latitude": 47.3794, "is_public": true, "deployments": [], "abbreviated_name": ""}}, {"pk": 6, "model": "core.site", "fields": {"updated": "2013-04-05T15:38:15.960Z", "name": "Max Planck Institute for Software Systems", "created": "2013-04-03T23:19:38.789Z", "tenant_id": "", "enabled": true, "longitude": 6.589, "site_url": "http://www.mpi-sws.mpg.de/", "login_base": "mpisws", "latitude": 49.14, "is_public": true, "deployments": [], "abbreviated_name": ""}}, {"pk": 7, "model": "core.site", "fields": {"updated": "2013-04-05T15:37:32.185Z", "name": "University of Tokyo", "created": "2013-04-03T23:20:49.815Z", "tenant_id": "", "enabled": true, "longitude": 139.5, "site_url": "http://www.planet-lab-jp.org/", "login_base": "utokyo", "latitude": 35.75, "is_public": true, "deployments": [], "abbreviated_name": ""}}]
\ No newline at end of file
+[
+{
+    "pk": 1, 
+    "model": "core.deploymentnetwork", 
+    "fields": {
+        "updated": "2013-04-03T22:57:09.331Z", 
+        "name": "VICCI", 
+        "created": "2013-04-03T22:57:09.331Z"
+    }
+},
+{
+    "pk": 2, 
+    "model": "core.deploymentnetwork", 
+    "fields": {
+        "updated": "2013-04-03T22:57:15.013Z", 
+        "name": "VINI", 
+        "created": "2013-04-03T22:57:15.013Z"
+    }
+},
+{
+    "pk": 3, 
+    "model": "core.deploymentnetwork", 
+    "fields": {
+        "updated": "2013-04-03T22:57:23.015Z", 
+        "name": "PlanetLab Classic", 
+        "created": "2013-04-03T22:57:23.015Z"
+    }
+},
+{
+    "pk": 4, 
+    "model": "core.deploymentnetwork", 
+    "fields": {
+        "updated": "2013-04-03T22:57:29.569Z", 
+        "name": "GENI", 
+        "created": "2013-04-03T22:57:29.569Z"
+    }
+},
+{
+    "pk": 1, 
+    "model": "core.site", 
+    "fields": {
+        "updated": "2013-04-05T15:21:04.135Z", 
+        "name": "Princeton University", 
+        "created": "2013-04-03T23:00:10.085Z", 
+        "tenant_id": "", 
+        "enabled": true, 
+        "longitude": -74.6524, 
+        "site_url": "http://princeton.edu/", 
+        "login_base": "princeton", 
+        "latitude": 40.3502, 
+        "is_public": true, 
+        "deployments": [
+            3, 
+            4
+        ], 
+        "abbreviated_name": ""
+    }
+},
+{
+    "pk": 2, 
+    "model": "core.site", 
+    "fields": {
+        "updated": "2013-04-05T15:42:36.517Z", 
+        "name": "Stanford University", 
+        "created": "2013-04-03T23:03:51.742Z", 
+        "tenant_id": "", 
+        "enabled": true, 
+        "longitude": -122.172, 
+        "site_url": "http://www.stanford.edu/", 
+        "login_base": "stanford", 
+        "latitude": 37.4294, 
+        "is_public": true, 
+        "deployments": [], 
+        "abbreviated_name": ""
+    }
+},
+{
+    "pk": 3, 
+    "model": "core.site", 
+    "fields": {
+        "updated": "2013-04-05T15:42:17.263Z", 
+        "name": "Georgia Institute of Technology", 
+        "created": "2013-04-03T23:05:51.984Z", 
+        "tenant_id": "", 
+        "enabled": true, 
+        "longitude": -84.3976, 
+        "site_url": "http://www.gatech.edu/", 
+        "login_base": "gt", 
+        "latitude": 33.7772, 
+        "is_public": true, 
+        "deployments": [], 
+        "abbreviated_name": ""
+    }
+},
+{
+    "pk": 4, 
+    "model": "core.site", 
+    "fields": {
+        "updated": "2013-04-05T15:39:27.501Z", 
+        "name": "University of Washington", 
+        "created": "2013-04-03T23:09:52.337Z", 
+        "tenant_id": "", 
+        "enabled": true, 
+        "longitude": -122.313, 
+        "site_url": "https://www.washington.edu/", 
+        "login_base": "uw", 
+        "latitude": 47.6531, 
+        "is_public": true, 
+        "deployments": [], 
+        "abbreviated_name": ""
+    }
+},
+{
+    "pk": 5, 
+    "model": "core.site", 
+    "fields": {
+        "updated": "2013-04-05T15:38:56.889Z", 
+        "name": "ETH Zuerich - Computer Science", 
+        "created": "2013-04-03T23:14:11.072Z", 
+        "tenant_id": "", 
+        "enabled": true, 
+        "longitude": 8.54513, 
+        "site_url": "http://www.inf.ethz.ch/", 
+        "login_base": "ethzcs", 
+        "latitude": 47.3794, 
+        "is_public": true, 
+        "deployments": [], 
+        "abbreviated_name": ""
+    }
+},
+{
+    "pk": 6, 
+    "model": "core.site", 
+    "fields": {
+        "updated": "2013-04-05T15:38:15.960Z", 
+        "name": "Max Planck Institute for Software Systems", 
+        "created": "2013-04-03T23:19:38.789Z", 
+        "tenant_id": "", 
+        "enabled": true, 
+        "longitude": 6.589, 
+        "site_url": "http://www.mpi-sws.mpg.de/", 
+        "login_base": "mpisws", 
+        "latitude": 49.14, 
+        "is_public": true, 
+        "deployments": [], 
+        "abbreviated_name": ""
+    }
+},
+{
+    "pk": 7, 
+    "model": "core.site", 
+    "fields": {
+        "updated": "2013-04-05T15:37:32.185Z", 
+        "name": "University of Tokyo", 
+        "created": "2013-04-03T23:20:49.815Z", 
+        "tenant_id": "", 
+        "enabled": true, 
+        "longitude": 139.5, 
+        "site_url": "http://www.planet-lab-jp.org/", 
+        "login_base": "utokyo", 
+        "latitude": 35.75, 
+        "is_public": true, 
+        "deployments": [], 
+        "abbreviated_name": ""
+    }
+}
+]
diff --git a/plstackapi/core/models/__init__.py b/plstackapi/core/models/__init__.py
index 1ecda7e..5f962e3 100644
--- a/plstackapi/core/models/__init__.py
+++ b/plstackapi/core/models/__init__.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 from .site import SitePrivilege
 from .flavor import Flavor
 from .image import Image
-from .user import User
+from .user import PLUser
 from .role import Role
 from .key import Key
 from .node import Node
diff --git a/plstackapi/core/models/key.py b/plstackapi/core/models/key.py
index e224831..9d4b139 100644
--- a/plstackapi/core/models/key.py
+++ b/plstackapi/core/models/key.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import os
 from django.db import models
 from plstackapi.core.models import PlCoreBase
-from plstackapi.core.models import User
+from plstackapi.core.models import PLUser
 from plstackapi.openstack.driver import OpenStackDriver
 
 # Create your models here.
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
     key = models.CharField(max_length=512)
     type = models.CharField(max_length=256)
     blacklisted = models.BooleanField(default=False)
-    user = models.ForeignKey(User, related_name='keys')
+    user = models.ForeignKey(PLUser, related_name='keys')
 
     def __unicode__(self):  return u'%s' % (self.name)
 
diff --git a/plstackapi/core/models/pluser.py b/plstackapi/core/models/pluser.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a59cb97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plstackapi/core/models/pluser.py
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+import os
+import datetime
+from django.db import models
+from core.models import PlCoreBase
+from core.models import Site
+from django.contrib.auth.models import User, AbstractBaseUser, UserManager, BaseUserManager
+
+# Create your models here.
+
+class PLUserManager(BaseUserManager):
+    def create_user(self, email, firstname, lastname, password=None):
+        """
+        Creates and saves a User with the given email, date of
+        birth and password.
+        """
+        if not email:
+            raise ValueError('Users must have an email address')
+
+        user = self.model(
+            email=PLUserManager.normalize_email(email),
+            firstname=firstname,
+            lastname=lastname
+        )
+
+        user.set_password(password)
+        user.is_admin = True
+        user.save(using=self._db)
+        return user
+
+    def create_superuser(self, email, firstname, lastname, password):
+        """
+        Creates and saves a superuser with the given email, date of
+        birth and password.
+        """
+        user = self.create_user(email,
+            password=password,
+            firstname=firstname,
+            lastname=lastname
+        )
+        user.is_admin = True
+        user.save(using=self._db)
+        return user
+
+
+class PLUser(AbstractBaseUser):
+
+    class Meta:
+        app_label = "core"
+
+    email = models.EmailField(
+        verbose_name='email address',
+        max_length=255,
+        unique=True,
+        db_index=True,
+    )
+
+    
+    firstname = models.CharField(help_text="person's given name", max_length=200)
+    lastname = models.CharField(help_text="person's surname", max_length=200)
+
+    phone = models.CharField(null=True, blank=True, help_text="phone number contact", max_length=100)
+    user_url = models.URLField(null=True, blank=True)
+    site = models.ForeignKey(Site, related_name='users', verbose_name="Site this user will be homed too", null=True)
+
+    is_active = models.BooleanField(default=True)
+    is_admin = models.BooleanField(default=True)
+    is_staff = models.BooleanField(default=True)
+
+    objects = PLUserManager()
+
+    USERNAME_FIELD = 'email'
+    REQUIRED_FIELDS = ['firstname', 'lastname']
+
+    def get_full_name(self):
+        # The user is identified by their email address
+        return self.email
+
+    def get_short_name(self):
+        # The user is identified by their email address
+        return self.email
+
+    def __unicode__(self):
+        return self.email
+
+    def has_perm(self, perm, obj=None):
+        "Does the user have a specific permission?"
+        # Simplest possible answer: Yes, always
+        return True
+
+    def has_module_perms(self, app_label):
+        "Does the user have permissions to view the app `app_label`?"
+        # Simplest possible answer: Yes, always
+        return True
+
+    @property
+    def is_staff(self):
+        "Is the user a member of staff?"
+        # Simplest possible answer: All admins are staff
+        return self.is_admin
+
+
diff --git a/plstackapi/core/models/site.py b/plstackapi/core/models/site.py
index 67257af..1e1cbe4 100644
--- a/plstackapi/core/models/site.py
+++ b/plstackapi/core/models/site.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
 
 class SitePrivilege(PlCoreBase):
 
-    user = models.ForeignKey('User', related_name='site_privileges')
+    user = models.ForeignKey('PLUser', related_name='site_privileges')
     site = models.ForeignKey('Site', related_name='site_privileges')
     role = models.ForeignKey('Role')
 
diff --git a/plstackapi/core/models/slice.py b/plstackapi/core/models/slice.py
index fe16402..27184dc 100644
--- a/plstackapi/core/models/slice.py
+++ b/plstackapi/core/models/slice.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 from django.db import models
 from plstackapi.core.models import PlCoreBase
 from plstackapi.core.models import Site
-from plstackapi.core.models import User
+from plstackapi.core.models import PLUser
 from plstackapi.core.models import Role
 from plstackapi.core.models import DeploymentNetwork
 from plstackapi.openstack.driver import OpenStackDriver
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@
         super(Slice, self).delete(*args, **kwds)    
 
 class SliceMembership(PlCoreBase):
-    user = models.ForeignKey('User', related_name='slice_memberships')
+    user = models.ForeignKey('PLUser', related_name='slice_memberships')
     slice = models.ForeignKey('Slice', related_name='slice_memberships')
     role = models.ForeignKey('Role')
 
diff --git a/plstackapi/core/models/sliver.py b/plstackapi/core/models/sliver.py
index 2eabf23..27b9ab1 100644
--- a/plstackapi/core/models/sliver.py
+++ b/plstackapi/core/models/sliver.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
     key = models.ForeignKey(Key, related_name='slivers')
     slice = models.ForeignKey(Slice, related_name='slivers')
     node = models.ForeignKey(Node, related_name='slivers')
-    deploymentNetwork = models.ForeignKey(DeploymentNetwork, related_name='sliver_deploymentNetwork')
+    deploymentNetwork = models.ForeignKey(DeploymentNetwork, verbose_name='deployment', related_name='sliver_deploymentNetwork')
 
     def __unicode__(self):  return u'%s::%s' % (self.slice, self.deploymentNetwork)
 
diff --git a/plstackapi/core/models/user.py b/plstackapi/core/models/user.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 30bd2a9..0000000
--- a/plstackapi/core/models/user.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-import os
-import datetime
-from django.db import models
-from plstackapi.core.models import PlCoreBase
-from plstackapi.core.models import Site
-from plstackapi.openstack.driver import OpenStackDriver
-
-
-# Create your models here.
-
-class User(PlCoreBase):
-    user_id = models.CharField(max_length=256, unique=True)
-    firstname = models.CharField(help_text="person's given name", max_length=200)
-    lastname = models.CharField(help_text="person's surname", max_length=200)
-    email = models.EmailField(help_text="e-mail address", null=True)
-    password = models.CharField(max_length=256, null=True, blank=True)
-    
-    phone = models.CharField(null=True, blank=True, help_text="phone number contact", max_length=100)
-    user_url = models.URLField(null=True, blank=True)
-    is_admin = models.BooleanField(default=False)
-    enabled = models.BooleanField(default=True, help_text="Status for this User")
-    site = models.ForeignKey(Site, related_name='users', verbose_name="Site this user will be homed too")
-
-    def __unicode__(self):  return u'%s' % (self.email)
-
-    def save(self, *args, **kwds):
-        driver  = OpenStackDriver()
-        if not self.user_id:
-            name = self.email[:self.email.find('@')]
-            user_fields = {'name': name,
-                           'email': self.email,
-                           'password': self.password,
-                           'enabled': self.enabled}
-            user = driver.create_user(**user_fields)
-            self.user_id = user.id
-
-        self.password = None
-        super(User, self).save(*args, **kwds)   
-
-    def delete(self, *args, **kwds):
-        driver = OpenStackDriver()
-        if self.user_id:
-            driver.delete_user(self.user_id)
-        super(User, self).delete(*args, **kwds)                                 
diff --git a/plstackapi/planetstack/settings.py b/plstackapi/planetstack/settings.py
index f638c26..40e839a 100644
--- a/plstackapi/planetstack/settings.py
+++ b/plstackapi/planetstack/settings.py
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 
 MANAGERS = ADMINS
 
+AUTH_USER_MODEL = 'core.PLUser'
+
 from plstackapi.planetstack.config import Config
 config = Config()
 DATABASES = {