how to setup a domain Controller in our new system?

thekooman

Hi all,
We have got ourselves a new server at work (have been asking q's here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056061471) and now we are coming close to setting our old server as a domain controllers.

So it would be set up like this:
windows Server 2003 Domain controller and off this there would be our development server and 4-5 clients PC/laptops.

currently our router is the DHCP. should we be using the domain controller to do this?
What happens if the domain controller goes down? are we able to use the development server and 4-5 clients off this like we do at the minute and go back to the router as the DHCP?
Is there any documents/books i should be looking at to make sure we don't balls this up?

any help would be great.

Daith

You could use the router or DC as a DHCP server but if you only have 7 machines in total why not just give them static IP addresses?

CptSternn

The bigger question is - with 7 computers on the entire network, do you even need a domain?

Capt'n Midnight

CptSternn wrote: »

The bigger question is - with 7 computers on the entire network, do you even need a domain?

If you want a full bells and whistles domain controller then you will need a backup controller too, for small installs what used to be done was to setup it on a desktop, even a dual boot one so you could sync them every so often and revert back to the backup while you got the domain controller working again (or install the other server as a domain controller too - but that can lead to subtle gotcha's later on)

if this sounds like a lot of work, then you don't want a domain controller

if you are asking about dhcp, then you don't want a domain controller


What exactly do you expect this machine to do

centralised logons

file / printer share

what apps would run on it ?

thekooman

it was recommended to us for testing Web applications that it would be better to have a domain in place so as to replicate real customer scenarios. We use the DHCP on the router at the minute to dynamically assign IP addresses so we might stick with that or else use static ip's.

bullpost

Perhaps you mean a domain name (and DNS) rather than a Windows Domain, which sounds like overkill and is a pain to administer.

Capt'n Midnight

even DNS may be over kill depending on the app


if you just want to redirect stuff you could edit the local hosts file or use a proxy.pac script on the browser

thekooman

thanks all for the information... looking at this it shows that a little knowledge on my behalf can be dangerous!
I think we will need to investigate more as to why we need a domain if at all for the work that we are doing. its all fine and dandy putting one in but as you say it could lead to a world of hurt down the line especially if the DC goes down so that means we would also need to maintain a backup DC.
Could a virtual machine be used as backup DC?
I think a pro's and con's list could be a good idea before going ahead with it.

CptSternn

It's not just a DC and BDC we are talking about here. The reality is they don't really exist in todays domains - you have the root of the forest and a schema master. If you going to go through the trouble of properly setting up an AD forest for a domain, you really need a reason.

It's a lot of work maintaining it as well as setting permissions, users accounts, etc. and if you don't need any of it, they why bother sure.

swampgas

thekooman wrote: »

it was recommended to us for testing Web applications that it would be better to have a domain in place so as to replicate real customer scenarios. We use the DHCP on the router at the minute to dynamically assign IP addresses so we might stick with that or else use static ip's.

If you want to replicate customer scenarios you should really think about using some kind of virtualisation. I have a small AD domain set up for similar reasons on a single server - DC (DHCP, DNS, etc.), a few clients, web server, etc ... all in an isolated network so no risk to the rest of the network. Being able to snapshot / roll back the VM states is useful too.

Jumpy

Leave DHCP where it is. If it aint broke etc...

I would recommend a domain in any setup mainly because of group policies and to enhance security.

But then again, I know AD very well, you can do a lot of damage with it if you dont know your stuff.