Setting up Windows 2003 Server

[Martyuk39]

My company is slowly disintegrating. My experience is in NT. I've recently started an MCSE in 2003. I've installed Win2003 Enterprise Edition (Evaluation Edition). What I want to do now is connect workstations to it and play about with AD etc. I have a small switched hub. My question is how do I go about doing the necessaries to connect machines. I've never really understood DHCP/DNS on the server - I didn't install my server software, it was before my time. Please could someone explain in small words what I need to do to get started in order to set up a small network? I want to play about with user and computer accounts, set up various bits and bobs, so that the MCSE course makes a bit more sense to me. Last week I ran the wizards for DHCP and DNS but I could not connect machines and it did not make sense to me. So I have re-installed onto a blank hard disk and made no config changes, apart from installing SP1.
Thanks
Martin

 

[Brazen]

Windows 2003 is pretty simple to set up AD. Just use the Configure your server wizard and choose the domain controller role. It will automatically install and configure DHCP and DNS for you.

edit: oops, I think I didn't read your whole thread or something. Since you already have DHCP and DNS installed, you should just need to run the domain controller role wizard.

If you still can't get connect, make sure you are getting DHCP info on the clients and you can ping the server from the client.

 

[Martyuk39]

Thanks - I did that last time and then was unable to connect machines to it, and people were blinding me with science in their kinds efforts to get me working. This time I have removed a router from the equation in order to simplify things. Do you reckon it's better to run the server wizard and then troubleshoot from there?

 

[Woodie]

Here's your best bet:

1. Read up on networking/TCP-IP. DNS and DHCP are critical success factors for using AD domains.

Now, connect up a Private network off your hub. One nic per device, no Internet connectivity.
pc-hub
pc-hub
server-hub
Power up the server first, and you can use the wizards to install in this order:
Server OS
AD w/ DNS (NOT a root server)
DHCP
Several reboots later, you'll be up and running DNS. Now, go into DHCP and configure a "scope". Then you'll have to "authorize" the DHCP server before it will start.
Reboot, and go through the event log, to ensure that DNS and DHCP are working.

Once all that is done, now you can add the machines to the domain. If you want to put the computer accounts in an OU other than BuiltIn, create the Computer Account in the AD first (using the AD Users & Computers tool), then join the machine to the domain. Otherwise, you can do the joining (from the pc) and it will create a machine account on the fly.

 

[Brazen]

Is this on your corporate network or is it on a seperate testing network? If you have another DHCP server on the same network, it will cause problems in this situation.

If you can ping the server from the client, then yeah, run the domain controller wizard and then go from there.

 

[Martyuk39]

It's just a private network with which I'm practising at home.

 

[cleverhandle]

Originally posted by: Woodie
1. Read up on networking/TCP-IP. DNS and DHCP are critical success factors for using AD domains.

This is really the best possible advice for the long-term. Everything in AD will just seem like voodoo if you don't get these two, especially DNS. And since you have a test network, you're in a very good position to learn. Read up a little on DNS - what it's supposed to do, what the vocabulary is (zones, forward/reverse lookups, etc.), how you can test it (tools like dig or nslookup). Then go set up a DNS server on your test network. Keep it simple - no AD, no fancy stuff, just plain DNS. Set up a couple workstation on the same subnet and set them to use your new DNS server. Can they resolve names? Do nslookups look the way they're supposed to? If so, good - you have a basic understanding of DNS. So wipe everything clean and do the same with DHCP. That will involve understanding TCP/IP routing and addressing as well.

Bottom line is that any interesting computer network involves a bunch of components. If you don't understand those components, you'll never be able to make sense of the whole thing. At best, you can follow other people's instructions and wizards like a monkey. But you've already seen that that's neither very effective nor very enjoyable. If you take your time and understand the parts, then the whole comes naturally.