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New to networking, need Active Directory install assistance, please.

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meltdowndave

meltdowndave

IS-IT--Management
Feb 27, 2007
10
US
I wear too many hats in my new gig, one of them being the computer networking guy.

I have a computer lab of 10 connected PCs that connect to wall jacks and ultimately a shared router in another building.

I've came across a server and purchased a charity license for Win 2003 with 20 CALs.

I need to create Active Directory "like" functionality for user accounts and to allow the PCs in the lab to warehouse account data, "My Documents", and desktops/settings on the server. The server is connected as a *peer* and is not schematically between the router and the lab. It's plugged in to a wall jack just as the others.

I do not have a domain and don't think that I can use Active Directory without one. I tried using a made up domain followed by ".local" when I used the install wizard, but only succeeded in disrupting the internet connection as, of course, the SOHO router didn't know what to do with it.

Is there anything I can do to set up a file and print server on this peer connected box to allow it to function as would a a server with a domain?

Thanks.
 
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You were doing right. What you do is when you get Active Directory installed you must set DNS fowarders in the DNS server which point to the ISPs dns servers. This allows your clients connected to the doing to access the internet.

On each client join it to the Domain, and set the dns server address in each client to the IP address of the server or use the DHCP server on the server to issue IP address and it will include DNS information. Make sure to turn off the DHCP server on the router.

Wm. Reynolds
RRWDS | TxPSS


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Thanks for the quick response.

By client, you mean any computer that is connected to the computer, correct?

I do not need a DHCP server as the "clients" are in parallel with the server and connect to the hub on their own. I might add a second router to my second network card at a later date though....these will be be "downstream" and need to share the connection.

By simply reinstalling the Active Directory and DNS, then forwarding the DNS itself to that of the ISP's I'll be good to go then?

Thanks again!
 
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Add on:

I just seen the "disable DHCP" on the router bit.

I don't think that will be doable as the router is shared with a classroom in an adjacent building. Doing that would undoubtably cause them some grief.

Can I have the clients join the domain of the server with DHCP from the router? Or can I enable the DHCP service and have the clients get their IPs from the server instead of the router?

Sorry to be so long winded. Although I dabbled with IIS with Win 2K, networking and servers are mostly abstract concepts to me.
 
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Each workstation is issued an IP address either by a DHCP server or by you physically giving it a static IP Address. It is technically easier to have the workstations retrieve an IP address from a DHCP server because you set all the correct settings on the server and you dont have to do that at each workstation. Right now your router may be issuing ip addresses.

You should probably change your IP address scheme so that everything is accurate with the server. Give the server a new IP address. For our company enterprise i used 10.25.18.0 & 10.25.19.0 for our IP scheme since we have 2 locations connected via VPN tunnel.

Install Active Directory and DNS will also install. Also go ahead and install DHCP and WINS. After you have done all that and followed all the prompts go into DNS and add in your ISPs dns servers as DNS forwarders. Make sure that the DHCP server on your router is turned off otherwise the two DHCP servers are going to be fighting with each other for control. Then go to each workstation and set it to use DHCP and join it to the domain. The workstation will pull an IP address for itself and it will contain all the settings such as its IP address, the Subnet, Gateway Router, DNS Server, Domain Name, and WINS Server.

When you go to add each workstation to the domain make sure that the user account your using to add each station to the domain is either a domain admin or enterprise admin.

Wm. Reynolds
RRWDS | TxPSS


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Well... you can physically assign each workstation an IP address, but you have to remember to enter in all the correct settings so that they will connect right.

Wm. Reynolds
RRWDS | TxPSS


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Also... the DHCP server on the windows server box will function as a DHCP server for everyone. It doesnt matter if the workstation is part of the domain or not.

Wm. Reynolds
RRWDS | TxPSS


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Thanks all.

I'll use static DHCP to reserve the IP address for the server, install DCHP and WINS, and then have the workstations join the "labserver.local" domain.

Will the router and server still fight to issue IP addresses even if the workstations are now on the server's domain? I'm not sure that disabling the router's DHCP is my best option as I don't want to reconfigure my network *and* the computer lab in private school next door. I've already got enough headaches without trying to become an overnight MSCE.


Thanks again, all.
 
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you dont have to reconfigure anything at all except its wise to disable the routers DHCP server and let your new server handle it. Even though the other computer lab isnt on your domain they will still be able to get IPs from the new server. Also you will need to physically give the server an ip address thats within the ip range of the router. You CAN NOT use DHCP on a server, especially a server that has active directory running with DNS, DHCP, and WINS.

If the routers IP address is like 192.168.0.1 then give your server an IP address of 192.168.0.10

Example...

Router
IP Address: 192.168.0.1
Subnet: 255.255.255.0

Server
IP Address: 192.168.0.10
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.0.1
DNS Server 1: 192.168.0.10 or 127.0.0.1


Then with DHCP disabled on the router and running on the server, it will hand out all the IPs for everybody. Whether they are on your domain or not they will be able to retrieve an IP address from your server and from there you can manage everything.

Wm. Reynolds
RRWDS | TxPSS


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you dont have to reconfigure anything at all except its wise to disable the routers DHCP server and let your new server handle it."

Thanks, mate. I'm dense, but now I finally get it.

Danka.
 
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