Been tasked with setting up a domain.

[airforcetxn]

Ok, first off my name is Alex. I am a CIS major at WTAMU University in Canyon Texas. I got my IT experience in the USAF where I spent 5 years as everything from help desk, to network admin. I have since gotten our of the military and now work for a local county government in the IT dept. My work here has been limited to small computer repairs so I have lost my step when it comes to networks. In the military, I never got to set up a domain, just administer the existing ones.

So here is my situation. I have now been tasked with getting my local counties network switched over to a domain. We are currently set up as a simple workgroup. I am looking through my books from a Windows 2003 Server class that I went to but it seems as if most of the info pertains to upgrading an existing NT domain. Additionally, we have a variety of systems on our network including an AS/400e and a RS/6000. Operating systems range from 98 to XP, but most are on 2000. So the problem that I am facing is that I need to convert this workgroup to a Active Directory domain, and still ensure that we have no issues with running the IBM machine. Can you direct me to any good resources where I can brush up on this?

Thank you in advance,
Alex

 

[dandcole]

First and most important is to put the whole thing down on paper.. I have found that this is the best thing to do before touching the first machine.. It sounds as though you have the intended result in mind already... Only thing missing is the steps getting there.. I would be giving more help here but there is somuch information missing in you thread I couldn't imagine where to begin !!

dandcole

 

[TimRegester]

I assume at present there is no server.

I would start as suggested above by documenting fully what you currently have in terms of IP addressing, DNS and DHCP, default gateways and any other static addresses like printers. Suss out host naming conventions now and make document all that will join the domain. For simplicity choose a domain called "yourchosendomainname.local"

Document all the intended users, names, any exchange details etc.

Then work out where and how the data will be held, so design the scheme in terms of shared drives (shares) drive mappings then look at profile types, schemes and whether to use folder redirection for my documents.

Work out how and if the new domain will interract with other domains and DNS systems.

Finally plan the permissioning for NTFS as well as the design and use of Organisational Units and GPOs.

Get a good book on Windows server 2003 one that covers installing a domain controller, and read as much as you need.

Finally you are ready to start, the easiest way is via building a Windows 2003 server from scratch, it will ask you many of the questions you should now have the answers for and allow you to create your domain once completed. Then add the computers in Active Directory Users and Computers and add the users in same as well as any groups and OUs.

If you plan it right you will succeed

 

[airforcetxn]

Thanks for the comments. Does anyone know if I am going to have any issues with our telnet connections, as400, or rs6000? I finallly got my server software last night so I am going to go ahead and start playing around in our training area and see if I can get this stuff to mesh.