Creating a Windows 2000 network 5

[JCruz063]

Hi All,
I currently have a peer-to-peer network in my workplace with 7 computers. There's no client-server model or anything; the computers just share files and printers and each user sets its own security policy for the files or printers it wants to share with others.

I have a Visual Basic program running on one computer and all other computers access such program through an icon on their desktops that points to the .EXE program in the, let's say, server computer. Please don't think the worse of me, but that server PC is running Windows XP Home Edition. Yes, I know, my network is a mess.

Every day, there comes a time when I won't be able to connect to the server computer and it says "No more connections can be made to //ServerPC because it already has as many connections as it could accept." Less frequently (but often enough to make me upset), I would go to network neighborhood and some of the computers in the network won't be listed. Many times I have to restart more than one computer to get the network working properly again.

Ok, enough humiliation already! What I want to do is setup a true client-server network with the copy of Windows 2000 server that I have. Unfortunately, I don't know how to set it up and what I need is for you guys to point me in the right direction as to what are the steps I would take into getting it done. I would appreciate if you could direct me to some material I could read to quickly get started or if you could just tell me the necessary steps to get the client-server network going (setting user permissions, and all that).

I've tried reading the documentation that comes with Windows 2000 but found it too off the "this-is-how-you-do-it" area. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

JC

Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly...

 

[JCruz063]

Thanks for the lift Robo.

I haven't tried installing Windows 2000 because the place where I need it is a production environment - My workplace. I can't just "play" with it because people depend on the network to work.

At the time, I'm just reading about all the stuff I need to know to set it up - Active Directory, DNS, Domains, etc - it's beatiful stuff! The documentation doesn't seem to imply that the configuration is that difficult. However, since I've never tried installing it, and people here have suggested that it's not quite straight forward, I thought I'd be better off letting someone else install it.

Now you're telling me is not as difficult (which is what I thought) and so, what I'll do is I'll come to the office on a saturday and play with it. If everything goes right, good. If not, I'll just restore the peer-to-peer thing I have here.

Again, Thanks!

JC

Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly...

 

[FredWagner]

JC - go for it! Even if you just put in the server and one workstation on a hub, get the feel of what's happening, see what's obvious and what's not. Some folks feel that formal training and certification is the ONLY way. Some of the rest of us learned by doing and experimenting, and have and do run networks without any certification at all. We participate in online forums like this where we learn from our peers. When we learn as we go, we always know that there is more to learn. I've found that some folks who pay big bucks for formal courses get the impresssion that they know all there is to know, because they paid for it and got the certificate. Different strokes - see what works for you, and don't be afraid to ask questions, or to back up and start over.

Fred Wagner
frwagne@longbeach.gov

 

[dearingkr]

I gues I'll throw my 2 cents in here too.

As a professional who sometimes has to go in and clean up after someone else, I say go for it. The most difficult jobs for me is when the other person 'thinks' they know what they are doing. As long as you're willing to be open-minded, learn, and ask questions, you'll be much better off.

Go in on a weekend and play with it as FredWagner suggests.

As far as I'm concerned, you are not a true IT person until you've crashed your own system (not production) a few times during experimentation, and had to learn how to fix it.

MCSE CCNA CCDA

 

[FredWagner]

DearingKR -
You've hit on it they key experience item:
"you are not a true IT person until you've crashed your own system (not production) a few times during experimentation, and had to learn how to fix it."
You can save grief when it's a true emergency by running through some setup/restore/fix operations in a learning/experimenting mode, so you'll have an idea what you're dealing with, what your resources and alternatives are, etc.
Just make sure you've got a good safe path back to your production environment before you start experimenting - install your Server OS on a PC which is not part of your production network (or at least use a different Drive, with your production drive safely removed/disconnected/isolated). Some of the best learning occurs outside the classroom, and some of the most valuable lessons are not in any book!

Fred Wagner
frwagne@longbeach.gov

 

[JCruz063]

Thanks guys (Fred + DearingKR),

I really appreciate your responses. I want you to know that you're really pushing me to do it . I'll try it out this weekend and let you know how it goes. A million thanks!

JC

Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly...

 

[DaveyBoyRules]

Hi there,
just wanted to say go for it, as a few others have already said, the best way to learn is by doing.

I was new to servers until a year ago then I built a 2000 server, having what I thought was a good IT back ground I thought doing so would be real easy, well having built and rebuilt the server several times I found that it was not so easy and I was missing a lot of knowledge.

Now having said that I can honestly say that building the server was the best thing ever, during the processes and failures I learnt all about DHCP, DNS, AD, scopes and so many other things, to be honest if the install had gone right 1st time I would not have the understanding of all those things as I do now, went wrong and I had to find out why, and I learned.

I bought a book called Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows 2000 Server by Alpha Books, a Division of Macmillan USA and it was a real boon, very straight forward tech questions in a easy to understand format, translated in to every day terms, i.e., explains that an IP address is like your postal address, etc, etc, goes on in depth but very easy use of analogy by them.

But the thing that helped me to build and learn, was the discovery of this site, Tek-Tips, without it I have no doubt I would still be building my 1st server, they truly are a great bunch of people and I would just like to say as I am typing this, THANK YOU ALL!

I now have a domain server up and running and I have also, with the help of the good folks here have my own Exchange Email server running.

Good luck with your project and let us know how you get on.

Regards to all at Tek-Tips,
Dave....

 

[ComputerCop911]

So XP Home cant connect to a Win2K Server domain?

Damn it....oh well I only have 1 XP Home computer anyways

ComputerCop911
ASP/HTML Programmer, Knowledgeable Computer Network/Hardware/Software Geek ;-)

 

[digisikk]

Computercop.

Actually you can connect to a w2k server with a XP home pc. I have one on my network, and it works fine.

To JC you might be well off using per server licensing, if everybody is not connected to the server at all times.
The w2k usually ships with 5 CALs, and if you set them up in a per server licensing environment, you can change that to per seat at a later state, when you feel the need for it.

 

[SGTRawlins]

I am intriuged to know how you connected your XP Home machine to a domain environment, my understanding of XP home was that thier was not even the option to attempt connection to a domain, i thought it only had workgroup facilities.?

Cheers

 

[dearingkr]

A WinXP Home can never join a domain.

However, with the proper credentials, it can use domain resources. But let me tell you from experience, it will cause you constant headaches.

A year ago, I inherited a NT4 domain with a Win2k member server with every Win client possible:
4 Win95
24 Win98
9 Win2k
26 WinXP Home
15 WinXP Pro

The XP Home machines accounted for 80% of my workload.

Needless to say, now it is a pure Win2k Server / WinXP Pro domain.

MCSE CCNA CCDA

 

[ComputerCop911]

Actually you can connect to a w2k server with a XP home pc. I have one on my network, and it works fine.

To JC you might be well off using per server licensing, if everybody is not connected to the server at all times.
The w2k usually ships with 5 CALs, and if you set them up in a per server licensing environment, you can change that to per seat at a later state, when you feel the need for it.

how??? I thought it couldnt join a domain....

ComputerCop911
ASP/HTML Programmer, Knowledgeable Computer Network/Hardware/Software Geek ;-)

 

[SGTRawlins]

As discussed in the post above, you cannot "join" the client to the domain but you can use some of the domian rescources, this means you cant contro the client from the server but you can browse files etc! i think!

 

[FredWagner]

As SGTRawlins mentions, even though XP Home can't join the PC to the domain, a user logged in on an XP Home PC can see the domain PCs, and if the user tries to access a domain resource, they get a login prompt, and they login with their Domain userid and password. They DO have to have a domain userid and password, but that's they only hitch. Of course the XP Home PC won't be managed in Active Directory, but a domain user can use it to acess some network resources. XP Pro is definitely the way to go for an enterprise, but if somebody brings in an XP Home edition machine, you can accomodate them to a limited extent.

Fred Wagner
frwagne@longbeach.gov