I need a rudimentary explanation of how to connect to a Domain 5

[quolo]

Hi there.

I'm in a startup company of 8-10 people; so they bought a server, had someone install Windows 2000 Server on it, plopped it off at my desk and informed me that I was now the IT Director and I'm supposed to configure this thing.

I've done all the research I can on my own and am stuck. We have about 10 machines here in house, running anything from Win98 to XP Pro. I have Set up a Domain Controller (I think) on the Server, created users (again, I think I did), created a shared folder and assigned users permissions to that folder.

I don't know how any of the users are supposed to join the domain. Do I go to My Network Places and access the shared drive as if they were just 2 computers in the same workgroup? That doesn't work because it doesn't let me log into the server, though I do see it on the network.

Eventually, I'm trying to create a shared file tree to centralize all our work, configure all of our users in Exchange so we can do group calendar functions, and configure VPN Access (although that's a ways down the road).

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[caddnima]

You need to restart the machine, then log-on as an administrator.

Then everything should be smooth...

 

[deik313]

Wow, this is so funny...I am going through this thing exactly as you are! I am adding users to the domain and having exactly the same problem with copying their profiles. It will copy most of the folders, but some of the files are in use or can't be copied. I'm just copying what will copy, and it seems to recreate the other things when I log in again as the user. I tried it with the admin account, too, and it didn't work. I'm finding, too, that it does not create a username.domain folder, so I'm having to copy the "user" profile to the new users profile. A few times, this hasn't worked, and I've actually lost all the users MY DOCUMENTS files. They just vanished. I logged in as everyone I could think of (including admin), and still couldn't find them. Go figure.

Thanks for the links...I will check them out. I owe Patty a lot, too, because I'm learning everything from your thread through her! (She helped me on my thread, too).
Dei

 

[quolo]

I'm still working through this problem, myself. There just doesn't seem to be an easy way to do it.

I tried it on another client's computer and had a bit more success, but I think I've mucked mine up a bit. I, too, when logging in as an administrator have had mixed results with which files I had access to within a user's profile.

I'm just going to copy what I can and move on. I'm getting pressure from above about setting up a file server. So next task.

DFS. I'm sure I'm going to run into problems trying to figure this out. Until next time, same Bat time, same Bat channel.

 

[gurner]

DFS - Distributed File System is only really of any use if you have lots and lots of file servers scattered all over the place and you want the network shares to look like they are in one central location rather then spread across the LAN

 

[quolo]

Yeah, I was going to ask if that was overkill. Sounds like it.

Down the road, there will be several servers and more users than the 10 I am trying to support. Is it a mega-nuisance to change from a regular old mapped drive to DFS?

I think I'll go the easy route for now. I just wanted to get all fancy and use all the acronyms I could get my grubby little hands on.

Thanks, you probably saved me from a headache.

 

[caddnima]

Ok,

Here's how I do it...

assuming that you already have a copy of profile you want to use somewhere on your hard drive. Example: d:\temp...

Next thing you need to do is log on as the user... example : johndoe

This will create a profile under "Documents and Settings"
Also, try to configure the Outlook if you have any. so that it will have an outlook stuff on the same profile

Next is to reboot your system and then log on as administrator...

then copy all the files from the old profile from "d:\temp" and drop it to the new profile under "Documents and Settings"

Also make sure that you add this user to the local group profiles such as "administrators", "power users" etc.

Then log-out and log-on as the user. Then everything should work.

Try this and let me know.

Have Fun...

 

[caddnima]

When you are doing profiles... first thing that you should do is... log out as a user... restart machine... log-on as admin... then copy the profile to another drive... Backup the whole profile...

I must admit that working with W2000 profiles is a lot easier compared to NT profiles.

So please do backup your profiles before you create any new profiles... most of the time, it wont overwrite you profile... it will just append 000 to the new profile....

But just to be sure back-it-up.

Have Fun

 

[quolo]

Okay, with all of your suggestions, I've managed to figure out how to copy over my users' profiles. I had to give the local administrator account proper rights to the users profile in order to copy the whole thing - which I thought I was doing, but, in fact, I needed to check that little box that says something like 'Replace permissions on child objects with the parent'

Okay, now we're cooking with gas.

Next, I set up group permissions, as Patty suggested, so that I didn't have to make all my users administrators just to get them into the domain. Done. Easy. No sweat.

No, onto Girth's suggestion about setting up a centralized store of information. That login script sounds like a great idea, so I set about to create it. I navigated to C:\WINNT\system32...and then there's no "repl" folder. Does it matter terribly where I stick this batch file?

Also, a related question: I'd like to use two of the 60-70 MB partitions (which are on different Hard Drives) for this file repository - ideally the client would go to, say, H: and manage their files there, and then the server would handle where and on which partition things actually go. Is this what DFS is designed to do? It's not a pressing need, but I can see us outgrowing a 70MB partition down the road.

Thanks again. I look back on my initial post in this thread and I think about how much less I knew just a week back.

 

[ScreeminChikin]

If you want to make a batch file that maps a network drive when a user logs in just drop it into the NETLOGON share folder on your domain controller. Then you have to set up each of your user accounts to use the logon script. mapdrive.bat or whatever. DFS is mainly if you have a bunch of files say on several different servers on a LAN that you want to appear as if they are all in one place so thatusers dont have to look all over the place to find them.

 

[ScreeminChikin]

I looked at your post again, I misread it the first time. Where are the partitions located, and why do you have 60-70 mag partitions in the first place? Are they on the server? and are they so small in order to limit disk usage by users or what, because that can be done with disk quotas.

 

[quolo]

The partitions are small because our hard drives are pretty small - we only have a coupe 100 Gig hard drives in the server. I came on board here after the server was ordered and "pre-configured" by someone, who partitioned them this way.

Oh, I just realized...I said 60-70 MB's, I meant 60-70 GB's. I'm living in the 90's still. My bad.

Anyways, one partition ought to be enough for now.

I'm close to getting this to work. I think the problem lies in setting up my user accounts to use the logon script. As per Girth's instructions above, I did the following:

Here's the script:

echo off
net use d: /delete
echo on
net use d: \\csmail\fileshare

net time \\server /set /yes

The above is saved as "Global.bat" in c:\sysvol\sysvol\Domain\scripts, which is my NetLogon shared drive, near as I can tell.

In the user's profile tab, I typed:

'Global.bat' Home Folder = Connect 'H'? + To \\csmail\users\TheirName

csmail is the name of my server. Everything else I typed verbatim. I'm not clear about which of the above I'm supposed to replace and which is a reserved word.

Thanks,

Jeremy

 

[ScreeminChikin]

I use a scripts to map different shares for different users home folders but mine is much simpler, something like this...

net use k: \\server1\bobs_home_folder
net use x: \\server2\public_files

This just maps a drive that shows up in my computer or whatever that users can then access of save files to.

 

[deik313]

Is this the same as going to each user account on the server and setting the CONNECT TO: in the profile? What's the advantage of doing a login script over setting the "connect to", or mapping drives on the local computer? Is this so that they can log into different computers?
Dei

 

[ScreeminChikin]

You could do it that way. I just have allways done it like this. Its just less work to do the script than to map the drive on each machine. Its not like a roaming profile, but what I do is have a common drive and then each user has a folder on that drive that they save their documents to, you can redirect the my documents folder on each users desktop if you like as well so that they dont save stuff local. That way I just back up that one drive and all my users files are backed up in case of a workstation drive dies they dont loose all their files. You just have to get your permissions locked down on each folder so that you dont have users snooping around in other poeples folders.

 

[quolo]

I finally got this sorted out. Here's all I really needed to do:

Go into c:\WINNT\sysvol\sysvol\DomainName\Scripts and create a Global.BAT file that said:

net use h: \\ServerName\fileshare

and in the user's profile, but Global.Bat in for the logon script. The problem I was having was that I was using d: instead of h:, which was already being used on the client's machine for the CD Rom Drive. That was pretty dumb, wasn't it?

Here are a couple of links of interest on the matter.

http://asia.cnet.com/itmanager/netadmin/0,39006400,39093131,00.htm

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Win2000/Q_20112933.html

 

[GrnEyedLdy]

"I'd like to use two of the 60-70 MB partitions (which are on different Hard Drives) for this file repository - ideally the client would go to, say, H: and manage their files there"

If you are using Dynamic disks, you can just create a Spanned Volume which will include the disk space on each disk that you want to use. The disk space will appear to your users as one drive, i.e., drive H.

Check out this link for more info...

http://www.microsoft.com/windows200...ws2000/en/server/help/dm_spanned_overview.htm

Well I'm off to vacation...no computers there...Merry Christmas to all and see you in two weeks! Also, thanks to Quolo and Deik313 for the kind words...

Have fun,

Patty

 

[Seaspray0]

Force your boss to up-front the money for a book that covers the MCSE 70-215 course. It will explain everything asked here plus a lot lot lot lot more. It may take you two weeks to read all of it, but it will save your company $$$ because you will be able to set up the server like a pro, configure it to run properly, and more importantly your boss will be saying "thank you for making me buy you this book!"

 

[drdirt]

Quolo,
I hope by now you have the shared files your company needs. If not, or if someone follows this thread because their boss asked them to part the Red Sea with a teaspoon, I will make a suggestion. Please note, your little internal office network is very vulnerable to mischief if you connect any one of the machines to the internet or even a dialup modem. Be wary...stay happy.

To give your office shared files with reasonable management, and the existing equipment/SW:

Create a shared folder on your domain controller (DC). Lets call it WORKSHARE. Yes, you can put it elsewhere, but there are trade offs.

Do you know how to grant permissions to groups yet? If not you could just give everyone permission. You right-click the folder in Windows Explorer, choose "Sharing...", click radio button for share, click on permissions, and any groups you have assigned users to will appear. If none, select "everyone" from the list (security issue). Note, they probably all need read+write access.

Assuming you don't want to get into setting up profiles for each user (and since you have less than a dozen) - on each client - Create a shortcut in windows explorer to a network drive (say label it R:\) and point it to the path on the DC with syntax like "\\DOMAINCONTROLLER\WORKSHARE".

It would probably be smart to get the users involved in the file structure. If not, you will have a huge mess that no one will find anyone elses files inside a month.

Good luck to anyone with an assignment like this...

 

[quolo]

Yep, that's exactly what I did those many moons ago. Seems to have worked out okay to this point. I created a "Fileshare" folder, and in that first level I created a folder for each user and one called "Shared Folders". Then, in each user's folder, I put a shorcut to the "Shared Folders" folder.

For each user, I mapped their fileshare drive icon to their personal folder. Each user has access to their own folder and the shared work; this allows them to keep their work that they wish to keep to themselves on the server and backed up, and they can access the shared work from the "Shared Folders" shortcut. Works pretty nicely.

We now have that one server as a webserver for two websites, exchange, the fileshare you mentioned above, and VPN services, as well as antivirus/email filtering and backup. A lot of that courtesy to the advice I've received from TekTips people.

Most important lesson I've learned - Don't ever delete the "Client for Microsoft Networks" protocol. We were having some instabilities with our website and VPN access, so I tried removing the protocol from one of the NICs in the server; when I put it back, security permissions were all screwy and logical drives were removed.

Regarding the fileshare, is there anything else I should consider in regards to security or version control?