windows 2003 newbie with many questions!

[SelArom]

Greetings! Now that school is out for the winter I want to try and spend some time making sense out of my network. I am very new to this kind of thing and don't know how to take advantage of networking features (in fact I don't know what many of those advantages are!) but since my school has an MSDN subscription I've got my hands on everything I need, and I want to take full advantage and learn as much as possible!

Right now, I have a pc running in the closet with windows 2003 standard. Right now it's just a storage bin for all my movies, games, mp3 library, etc... which I love! but what other things can I gain? I don't have any of my computers (I have a desktop, laptop, and htpc all running windows xp pro) logged onto the domain, they are still under MSHOME workgroup. what exactly is the difference between that and logging on to a windows 2003 domain?

And that leads me to another question: what happens if I configure my laptop to be part of the domain, but then I disconnect and say, go to school. how will I be able to log on if I'm no longer connected to my network? I know that I can log on to the computer rather than the domain, but what about my files? aren't they stored in a different folder under "documents and settings" for both the network logon and the local pc logon?

those are my 2 main questions for now, although there is much more that I still don't understand. can someone give me more details (just a high level overview would be good to start!) without getting too technical? thank you so much for your time!

-SelArom

 

[Genx87]

Your password is cached when you arent on the network. Login just like you do when on the domain. Files will still be stored wherever you put them.

 

[SelArom]

hmm I don't really understand what you were saying. do you mean that I just log onto the domain even though I'm not connected? so I can just eliminate the local (non domain) account?

-SelArom

 

[Genx87]

I'd leave one admin local account just in case. But all you have to do is log into the machine as if it was on your network using your domain account credentials.

 

[SelArom]

awesome! then I have only one more question: is there any way to make the "My Documents" folder be on the network so that when I log on to my computer and double click on "My Documents" it opens up just like normal, but the files are stored on the server?

and if that is possible is it possible to have both my desktop and laptop point to that location so they share the same "my documents"?

thanks again!

-SelArom

 

[blemoine]

the purpose of domains are centralized sercurity/management

 

[bunker]

Originally posted by: SelArom
awesome! then I have only one more question: is there any way to make the "My Documents" folder be on the network so that when I log on to my computer and double click on "My Documents" it opens up just like normal, but the files are stored on the server?

and if that is possible is it possible to have both my desktop and laptop point to that location so they share the same "my documents"?

thanks again!

-SelArom

Right click "My Documents"
Properties
Set Target folder to //<server_name>/<shared folder name>

I've never done it with two machines pointing to the same directory but I don't see why it should be a problem.

 

[SelArom]

Originally posted by: bunker

Originally posted by: SelArom
awesome! then I have only one more question: is there any way to make the "My Documents" folder be on the network so that when I log on to my computer and double click on "My Documents" it opens up just like normal, but the files are stored on the server?

and if that is possible is it possible to have both my desktop and laptop point to that location so they share the same "my documents"?

thanks again!

-SelArom

Right click "My Documents"
Properties
Set Target folder to //<server_name>/<shared folder name>

I've never done it with two machines pointing to the same directory but I don't see why it should be a problem.

actually I did try that once and it worked pretty damn well, but it didn't work right because the laptop isn't always connected to the network which means I couldn't access my files! d'oh! I think maybe I'm just asking for too much functionality 🙂

Originally posted by: blemoine
the purpose of domains are centralized sercurity/management

if that is true, and I'm the only one that uses my network, should I not even worry about making my computers part of the domain? I mean I use different computers but I'm not really interested in having beefy security. all I really want is to be able to share all my data accross all machines, and maybe get that shared my documents thing working too!

-SelArom

Edit: actually that's not entirely true, I DO want to learn how this all works! but I don't want to get too technical right away, because honestly I have absolutely no idea what i'm doing!

 

[mjia]

I use a domain at home with only you people who use the network. Workgroups are a pain, they are unreliable and setting up permissions is really limiting. I would suggest using a domain.

 

[SelArom]

Originally posted by: mjia
I use a domain at home with only you people who use the network. Workgroups are a pain, they are unreliable and setting up permissions is really limiting. I would suggest using a domain.

well I definitely do a lot sharing across the network. I'm using visual sourcesafe to synchronize my visual studio projects, and I also want to learn how to use exchange server....

how much work is it to set up all the computers on a domain? and how much different will my shares really be vs just using the workgroup?

-SelArom

 

[mjia]

Setting up a new domain is really easy especially with the wizards that help you. The only thing to remember is that active directory requires that you use the domain server as the DNS. The wizard will automatically setup the DNS server for you, but you need to configure the client machines to use the domain server as the DNS (instead of the one provided by your ISP/router). There are a number of tutorials online on how to setup active directory.

I haven't setup exchange server before. I use my own IMAP server.

Visual sourcesafe is pain! I'd avoid it. I worked in configuration management for a company that uses VSS...I hated supporting it. Use CVS if you can (I don't use visual studio, so I don't know if it supports CVS).

 

[SelArom]

thanks for your insight! I've actually been using visual sourcesafe very easily (and happily!) for a few days and it was a breeze to set up (well after I figured out what I was supposed to do) and a joy to use, so I'll probably stick with that. I really didn't like cvs, but I guess that's just me. I'm using the new 2005 version so that might be why I'm not feeling the headaches 🙂

I think I probably can setup all my machines on the domain pretty easily now thanks to all the information I've googled and learned from forums, the only thing I want to learn now is how to deal with the laptop not always being connected. see I Want to be able to share the "my documents" folder between my desktop and laptop, but the laptop isn't always connected since I take it to school. I think maybe this is something that the server is not designed to do so I'll just stick to refining what I've set up so far. thank you again for your help!

there is one more thing that I do want to ask: what exactly is an IMAP server? the only thing I remember is that it lets you sync your email across multiple machines, kind of like the way hotmail works inside of outlook. is that right? does exchange support this feature? can you direct me to a site that can give me a basic (not too technical) overview of what I can do with exchange server? thank you!

-SelArom

 

[mjia]

You can setup a VPN server to allow you to access your document remotely. It might be a little tricky to get this to work as 'My Documents' though. Maybe if you set My Documents to some mapped drive letter and write a script to establish the VPN connection first (automitically upon login), then map the drive to the specified share.

You'd be better off googling IMAP then I try to describe it. Sorry, I don't no a particular site. Its functionallity is similar to exchange server, but it's not proprietary and widely supported. The biggest difference btw IMAP and POP is IMAP leaves messages on the server, so it is especially useful to access your mail from multiple locations.

I'm not certain, but i might have heard that 2K3 doesn't allow you to provide VPN and routing services simultaneously. I use WinRoute Firewall and Kerio Mail Server (www.kerio.com) to provide VPN and IMAP/Webmail service.