Re: Setting up Windows Server / Active Directory / DNS for small busin

From: Al Mulnick (amulnick_No_SPAM_at_ncDOTrr.com)
Date: 12/28/04 

Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 22:11:45 -0500

Couple of thoughts you may want to consider:
- It will also be the new DHCP server, and DNS server
Why?

As a best practice, it's often advised to use a non-existent (as in never to
be existent outside the local network) domain name. In your case, don't use
the sunrayvt.com address internally. That makes for messy name resolution
and there really is no reason to do it. Pick something else that will never
get registered externally if possible. Then, for DNS resolution, your
internal clients should use the AD server as their DNS resolution and that
DNS host should then forward all unresolved requests to the router for
resolution. DHCP would be up to you and doesn't make a lot of difference
here per se.

One additional thought: have two DC's if possible. Makes for easier
recovery in case of hardware failure.

You'll find a lot of that same advice in the deployment docs off of
http://www.microsoft.com/ad

My 2 cents (USD),

Al

"Peter" <Peter@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:319A37FD-CA05-4F7B-BA4A-776B25201BE3@microsoft.com...
> Hi all,
>
> I am a part-time system administrator for a small business that currently
> has a Windows NT domain with approximately 10 workstations. I recently
> purchased a new server computer that has windows 2003 server
> pre-installed.
> I haven't even taken it out of the box yet because I am currently
> "studying"
> Windows Server 2003, Active directory, and DNS, as this is the first time
> I've had a chance to work with them. I'm thinking it would be much better
> to
> design and implement the "new" network correctly using best practices
> rather
> than just guessing what the appropriate solution would be. I've done some
> searching but haven't found anything particularly useful describing best
> practices for a small business in our situation, which I can't believe is
> that unique.
>
> I will describe the current setup and am looking for some input on what
> the
> new setup should look like. Since it is a small business with very few
> users, I'm not planning on "migrating" the NT 4.0 domain server to windows
> 2003, I'm planning on basically configuring the win2003 server as a new
> domain and then having all the workstations join the new domain. Any
> files
> (such as users' saved documents on the old NT server will either be burned
> to
> CDs or temporarily moved to one of the workstations, and then eventually
> moved to the new server once it is online. I'll just create the 10 or so
> user accounts on the new server.
>
> Current setup:
> - 1 Windows NT 4.0 Server (PDC) used primarily as a File/Print server
> - The current NT domain name is SUNRAY
> - 10 workstations running Windows XP Professional
> - Internet connection via DSL using a static IP address
> - The DSL router has a built in firewall and also acts as a DHCP server
> and
> DNS server
> - All workstations in the network are configured to request an IP address
> via DHCP, an internal IP address range is used
> - The NT Server has a hard coded internal IP address
> - Outsourced email and web hosting, the public domain for the web site and
> email is SUNRAYVT.COM
>
> Possible new setup:
> - 1 Windows 2003 Server used primarily as a File/Print server
> - It will also be the new DHCP server, and DNS server
> - Since it is a small network, we'll use 1 active directory
> domain/site/tree/forest.
> - 10 workstations running Windows XP Professional
> - Internet connection via DSL using a static IP address
> - Continue to use outsourced email and web hosting
> - 1 employee will need to work remotely, so terminal services and/or VPN
> will need to be supported
>
> Its possible that sometime in the future we may decide to host our own
> website and email, ideally it shouldn't require a network redesign to
> accommodate that.
>
> My biggest questions are about the domain structure and what the domain
> should be called.
>
> Should the new domain name be called SUNRAYVT.COM or SUNRAY.SUNRAYVT.COM?
> Or should we register a completely new public domain name? Even though we
> own the sunrayvt.com public domain, it is being used by the ISP that we
> chose
> to host the website and email, so I'm not sure if it can also be used by
> us
> for our windows domain.
>
> If we did use sunrayvt.com, I'm assuming the workstations would be named
> something like workstation1.sunrayvt.com, workstation2.sunrayvt.com, etc.
> From a workstation on our network, how would we be able to get to
> www.sunrayvt.com, since its not actually a computer in our network? Is
> there
> some sort of DNS setup that I would need to do to tell traffic for
> www.sunrayvt.com to go to a certain external IP address?
>
> Any input you can provide regarding my questions or other setup tips for
> small businesses would be appreciated. Please also let me know if you
> know
> of any resources for setting up windows 2003 in a small business
> environment.
>
> Thanks!
>
> -Peter

Relevant Pages

  • Re: How to configure for Two different IP subnets
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    (microsoft.public.windows.server.networking)
  • Re: Setting Up LMHost File? (DNS problem on VPN).
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    (microsoft.public.windows.server.networking)
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    ... I am guessing you are correct about the 'tweaking', as this was setup a long ... I don't know enough about how to setup DNS, but it looks to me like there is ... The Domain Name System name recommendations for Small Business Server 2000 ... Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: ...
    (microsoft.public.backoffice.smallbiz2000)
  • Re: Restoring Active Directory domain
    ... I believe you're right and the problem is in my DNS setup. ... on the new temp server, ... Unlimited Access, Anonymous Accounts, Uncensored Broadband Access ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.active_directory)
  • Re: Restoring Active Directory domain
    ... Is that temp DC multihomed? ... I believe you're right and the problem is in my DNS setup. ... the new temp server, I get this: ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.active_directory)