Migrating a workgroup-based LAN to a domain-based network

[Zucarita9000]

Well, the server has arrived (a nice Intel 3.2GHz Nocona Xeon, 2GB of RAM, 500GB of Hot-Swap SATA storage, running Windows Small Business Server 2003) and now I have to rebuild the entire network.

The LAN consist of 8 desktop PCs and a dozen notebooks. The internet conectivity is handled by a Linksys router, wich also serves as the DHCP server.

I want to create a domain based network, so we can use Exchange and SharePoint Servers. I also want to centralize virus scanning and updating and Windows update installations.

I'm new to these type of networks, and have orderd a few books on the subject. Will it be very difficult to set all the clients to a domain-based network? Can I still use the Linksys as an internet router and DHCP server?

The things I want to do with the new network are:

Use Exchange for internal email. Currently being handled by a 10 year old Win95 pc running MS Post Office. As for external email (POP) I'm still not sure if I want Exchange to handle that too... what would you recommend? Keep in mind the there are quite a few mobile users, and they should be able to acces their emails while being off location (disconnected from the network)

Use a LAN-based chat client, to avoid MSN Messenger. I was thinking about Lantalk XP or other similar app.

Use a Server-Client antivirus program, such as Symantec Antivirus. I want the server to download virus definitions and update every client upon login.

Use Windows Software Update services to keep every PC in the network updated and patched up.

Centralize backup. I want the server to store a hard drive image of every computer in the network, wich would have to be updated daily. The backups should allow to restore individual files, as well as the entire disk image.

Any suggestions?

Oh, and one more question about the hot-swap disks: Do I have to "turn them off" before removing them or can I just simply pull the lever and extract ir will it's still spinning (like a USB drive)?


Thanks a lot for any help provided.

 

[redbeard1]

You can still use the Linksys as the DHCP server. You need the router portion no matter what. SBS 2003 may try to install DHCP when you run the setup, though if it sees DHCP on the network, it usually won't.

Norton Enterprise would fit your anti virus needs. Enterprise has Symantec Mail Security for Exchange in it, so you can protect the Exchange portion of the server. The Norton Corporate portion protects the server and workstations. Set the option for Corporate to allow the clients to run live update on their own as needed, as the mobile users won't always be able to get their updates from your server.

Small Business Server has a pop3 connector in it, if you did want to have the server pull the email. Though for the mobile users, it would work better to let them pull the email.

Moving from a workstation enviroment to a domain can be a nuisance during the transition.

Win98/ME system are relatively painless to join the domain as long as you haven't enabled profiles. Join the domain and the desktop, shortcuts, documents, email and bookmarks are all there.

With Win2k the desktop, shortcuts, documents, email and bookmarks all need to be manually backed up/saved and reimported, short of buying software to transfer the stuff.

For most practical purposes XP home will not work in a domain enviroment. There are work arounds, but none of them are practical over the long term.

Xp Pro has the file and transfer settings wizard built in. So you run it to create the transfer file when the computer is still in the workgroup, get the computer and user into the domain, and then run the wizard again to import the settings. When doing this, save some time and delete the temporary internet files, as the wizard grabs these when it creates the file. This can be a large amount of junk, and it really slows the export and import process down. The wizard will not grab Outlook 2003 settings and mail. It will grab all other versions of Outlook, and Outlook Express.

MS Post office saves contacts as a PAB file. This will not be grabbed by the transfer wizard on the workstations, but it can be imported into the clients address book separately.

What are you using for backup redundancy? While a raid may have a fair amount of redundancy built into it, I've seen raid cards crash and corrupt the data on the raid set. Without a tape backup in this case they would have lost all of their data. Plus if you lose two drives in the array at the same time, the data is also gone.

You will need good network equipment to backup the workstations like you suggest. Hubs would probably corrupt data when you try to push that much through them. 10/100 switches would be recommended. Looking forward, Gigabit switches would better handle big file transfers and a number of new computers are starting to come with gigabit built in.

 

[ProviaFan]

I claim ignorance on 99% of that stuff, but on the last question: you must tell the system that you're going to remove the drive (through "Safely Remove Hardware" if SBS2003 is anything like XP Po) so it can be shut down before you pull it out.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: ProviaFan
I claim ignorance on 99% of that stuff, but on the last question: you must tell the system that you're going to remove the drive (through "Safely Remove Hardware" if SBS2003 is anything like XP Po) so it can be shut down before you pull it out.

We have dell servers and sometimes it will tell us a drive in the array has failed. 9 times out of 10, I just pull it out for a few seconds and put it back in. It rebuilds automatically and everything is ok, there is nothing to do in software. Then, there is the 1 time out of 10 that the drive has in fact gone bad and the rebuild fails and the drive must be replaced. I don't know of any other reason you would have want to pull out a drive, but just pulling it out of a hot-swap bay should not cause any problems.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Brazen
We have dell servers and sometimes it will tell us a drive in the array has failed. 9 times out of 10, I just pull it out for a few seconds and put it back in. It rebuilds automatically and everything is ok, there is nothing to do in software. Then, there is the 1 time out of 10 that the drive has in fact gone bad and the rebuild fails and the drive must be replaced. I don't know of any other reason you would have want to pull out a drive, but just pulling it out of a hot-swap bay should not cause any problems.

I was extrapolating based on what I had been told about the SATA drives in my desktop system with XP Pro. Evidently this doesn't translate to server hardware and software. Lesson learned.

 

[Zucarita9000]

Great info, guys. Thanks. I'll look into some of the stuff redbeard suggested.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Zucarita9000
Well, the server has arrived (a nice Intel 3.2GHz Nocona Xeon, 2GB of RAM, 500GB of Hot-Swap SATA storage, running Windows Small Business Server 2003) and now I have to rebuild the entire network.
The LAN consist of 8 desktop PCs and a dozen notebooks. The internet conectivity is handled by a Linksys router, wich also serves as the DHCP server.
I want to create a domain based network, so we can use Exchange and SharePoint Servers. I also want to centralize virus scanning and updating and Windows update installations.
I'm new to these type of networks, and have orderd a few books on the subject. Will it be very difficult to set all the clients to a domain-based network? Can I still use the Linksys as an internet router and DHCP server?
The things I want to do with the new network are:
Use Exchange for internal email. Currently being handled by a 10 year old Win95 pc running MS Post Office. As for external email (POP) I'm still not sure if I want Exchange to handle that too... what would you recommend? Keep in mind the there are quite a few mobile users, and they should be able to acces their emails while being off location (disconnected from the network)
Use a LAN-based chat client, to avoid MSN Messenger. I was thinking about Lantalk XP or other similar app.
Use a Server-Client antivirus program, such as Symantec Antivirus. I want the server to download virus definitions and update every client upon login.
Use Windows Software Update services to keep every PC in the network updated and patched up.
Centralize backup. I want the server to store a hard drive image of every computer in the network, wich would have to be updated daily. The backups should allow to restore individual files, as well as the entire disk image.
Any suggestions?
Oh, and one more question about the hot-swap disks: Do I have to "turn them off" before removing them or can I just simply pull the lever and extract ir will it's still spinning (like a USB drive)?
Thanks a lot for any help provided.

From the bottom:
Hot swap - your RAID hardware (you'll need real RAID hardware; what's on the motherboard isn't real RAID hardware) will handle that for you, assuming your enclosure handles it. This is why people buy Compaq/Dell hardware - it's all handled for you, and so's the hardware warranty, but anyhow...
I'd make backing up a single folder (or the users' profile directory) the priority rather than backing up the entire workstation - there's just not that much benefit over recloning the PC and restoring the profile(s). On the server side, you need a tape backup and also you should implement a user-level file restore feature (like, say, http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articl...-2003-Volume-Shadow-Copy-Service.html). That's free too.
WSUS is excellent. Free too.
SAV Corporate v10 is excellent.
Why avoid Messenger? People will install it anyway; might as well make it official.
Re: E-Mail - do you really want to manage e-mail? If not, just have your ISP handle it for you from start to finish - vastly easier if you don't cherish messing around with e-mail....and e-mail backups...and more.
Things to consider: DHCP, DNS on 2003 box for easy control. RIS on 2003 box - so that you can easily reclone workstations anytime you want with just a few keypresses and no additional work - start it up, come back in an hour and have a freshly imaged PC with XP, Office, etc. installed on it.

 

[Zucarita9000]

I'm guessing this is real RAID hardware? It's a PCI-X SATA card.

One thing I don't have clear is the user profiles residing on the server. What happens to mobile users when they're not connected to the network (ie. at home)? Can they still have the same desktop and preferences?

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Zucarita9000
I'm guessing this is real RAID hardware? It's a PCI-X SATA card.

One thing I don't have clear is the user profiles residing on the server. What happens to mobile users when they're not connected to the network (ie. at home)? Can they still have the same desktop and preferences?

I can't comment on the card unless I know what it is, but typically when you're talking about servers, IDE doesn't enter into the picture. In any case, for 20 light users, a 300GB data drive and a Raptor drive for the OS should be plenty.

Roaming profiles allow just that - the user can be on or off of the network, and they'll sync up the next time they're connected. Read more here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316353

 

[redbeard1]

when they're not connected...Can they still have the same desktop and preferences?

Once they are joined into the domain, the computers will run in cached mode when they are not connected. They will still need to use their doman username and password when they boot the system..

 

[Brazen]

Writing up a single explanation on how to set up a domain for a first-timer I think is a bit of a chore. I would suggest letting the domain controller handle dhcp and dns. Other than that, I think you should set up a test domain and find a computer to connect to it as a client workstation to play around and see how things work, before you setup the production domain and start connecting production workstations to it.

Also, if you handle your own email, definately move the email server to the Exchange server built into SBS. It's integration with the domain simplifies things a lot! And for users to get there email when they are not on the network, use OWA web access instead of POP3.

edit: of course, as you are setting up the domain, feel free to ask questions about steps along the way

 

[Zucarita9000]

Well, I'm almost ready to start installing and setting everything up. What I'm still not sure is how am I gonna handle the backups.

The server has a 250GB hdd that I'm planning to use as storage for everything the users might wanna save to the server, so I'm planning to create a directory for each user and then mount the appropiate directory as a unit in every PC. This way each user can make a backup whenever they feel like it.

As for the tape backup unit, I'll check if there's room in the budget for one. If not, I guess that the hard drive will have to do it for now.