anolith
asked on
Windows 2000 Domain Setup
Hi,
I'd like to setup a domain, currently on the network everyone has their own admin usernames an and passwords, and there is no domain controller. I want to create a domain in which the file server controls the domain. The domain will just be for those shared files. But I also want the uses to still log onto Administrator on their local machine and log onto the domain of the file server. Also while making sure it works under netbui. How would I go about doing this?
I'd like to setup a domain, currently on the network everyone has their own admin usernames an and passwords, and there is no domain controller. I want to create a domain in which the file server controls the domain. The domain will just be for those shared files. But I also want the uses to still log onto Administrator on their local machine and log onto the domain of the file server. Also while making sure it works under netbui. How would I go about doing this?
ASKER
So will users have a separate username/pass configured on the domain? And then entered in the Windows Network ID page?
ASKER
Also is it a "no no" to host the domain on the file server itslelf?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
It's all about the power. If your server can handle doing both things, then go for it. It will save you money. You will have to weigh how much activity your server is doing and what your hardware is.
If you are transferring and using HUGE files all day back and forth to the server, it is the Domain controller for 1000 clients, Its a Pentium III 500 Mhz, and it's storing almost a Terabyte of data, then yes, that is a BAD thing.
If you are using a dual Xeon 2 Ghz with 4GB of RAM server with Gigabit Ethernet, 20 Clients, and storing only 40GB of data, then that would be no problem for it at all!
It will depend on your complete scenario.
If you are transferring and using HUGE files all day back and forth to the server, it is the Domain controller for 1000 clients, Its a Pentium III 500 Mhz, and it's storing almost a Terabyte of data, then yes, that is a BAD thing.
If you are using a dual Xeon 2 Ghz with 4GB of RAM server with Gigabit Ethernet, 20 Clients, and storing only 40GB of data, then that would be no problem for it at all!
It will depend on your complete scenario.
ASKER
Thank you for all your help, I really appreciate it. One more thing. . . are you absolutely sure that netbeui won't work once this domain is setup. Will it absolutely not work with netbeui?
---- CLEAN UP ----
anolith,
No comment has been added lately (392 days), so it's time to clean up this TA.
I will leave a recommendation in the Cleanup topic area for this question:
RECOMMENDATION: [ Award points to leew ]
Please leave any comments here within the next seven days.
¡PLEASE DO NOT ACCEPT THIS COMMENT AS AN ANSWER!
--------------------------
Rajiv Makhijani
EE Cleanup Volunteer
anolith,
No comment has been added lately (392 days), so it's time to clean up this TA.
I will leave a recommendation in the Cleanup topic area for this question:
RECOMMENDATION: [ Award points to leew ]
Please leave any comments here within the next seven days.
¡PLEASE DO NOT ACCEPT THIS COMMENT AS AN ANSWER!
--------------------------
Rajiv Makhijani
EE Cleanup Volunteer
I strongly advise against making your users domain admins or giving them admin access to the server, but if you must, add them to the domain admins group from the Active Directory users and computers application once the domain is setup (It may actually add them for you if they already have local accounts). The domain admins group has administrative rights to all computers in the domain. So any user has admin rights to any domain machine (unless you take the domain admins group out of the local admins group on the workstations).
If you want to simply have the workstations allow users to be administrators, then add the "domain users" group to the local administrators group and all domain users will have admin rights on the workstations while NOT having admin rights on the server.
You will also have to configure each computer to participate in the domain. This is a simple process of going to each computer and going to the system control panel (right clicking the "my computer" icon) and going to the network Identification tab. From there, click the Properties button and on the window that appears, change the setting for "member of" from Workgroup to Domain, entering the domain name you used. You'll then be prompted for an administrator password (administrators must approve computers joining the domain - this is how it's done) and then a moment later, you'll be in the domain. The computer will now be setup for domain usage.
You will likely need to install and configure TCP/IP - NetBEUI is non-routable, broadcast based, and old. Windows 2000 domains rely heavily on DNS which REQUIRES TCP/IP. If you install DHCP on the server, it can hand out IP Addresses to each system so client configuration is minimal, but you need to setup DHCP first, which, if you're not an experienced TCP/IP person - and even if you are - it might be difficult and/or confusing.
If you don't install DHCP, you just have to manually configure each workstation. I recommend the following settings:
IP Address 192.168.0.x (where x is unique to each machine and a number between 1 and 254).
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
You can leave all other settings blank.
Note: this will obviously limit you to 254 computers on your network - but if you don't have a domain and aren't using TCP/IP already, you probably only have 5-15 computers on the network.
There are ways to expand the number of computers beyond the 254 limit, but they generally require a router or might otherwise significantly increase broadcast traffic on the network (If you set the subnet mask to 255.255.0.0 you could have somewhere around 65000 computers on the network, but because TCP/IP also does some broadcasting, this would cause serious collisions and network performance issues - if you had that many machines on one subnet).