heartbomb

Here is my scenario :

I intend to set up a server based network. The server will be windows server 2003 and the 5 other workstations will be under window Xp home.
What I know from my research;
1. I should install all the operating system including the NIC.
2. I should connect the server and the workstations to a switch using RJ45 cable.
3. I should setup active directory in windows server 2003.
4. I should run the add network wizard to add the workstations to the network.
5. I should add the workstations to the domain giving each an authentication.

So what I intend to get is, when someone want to use a workstation he types his username and password and get access to the pc and also retrieve file from the server(of course I should do the particular configuration)

But I don’t understand where the IP address configuration should be done, in the workstations or the server.

Am I lacking any point, please help this newbie.

Thanks guys.

frontline

First off, you can't use XP Home and Server 2003 together. Home lacks support to join a domain. You will need to install XP Pro on all of the client PCs you want to connect to the domain.

Yes you would first install the base OS on the server PC and the workstation PCs. Make sure that everything is working properly and that they can connect to a network. You would then need a switch and connect them all to the switch with CAT5 cable, or wireless too if you like. Then you configure the server.

You can setup the server to do AD, which also means that it will be doing DNS. Then for IP addressing you should configure the server to have a static IP, and to have it act as a DHCP server. This will allow the workstations to get an IP from the server without any individual configurations to each one.

With AD you would setup all of the user accounts on the server and then the users would be authenticated from there on whichever workstation they attempt to login to. You will need to decide how you want to handle profiles, so that each time the user logs in they have the same setup. By default no specefic profile path will be selected and the user would get a generic profile stored on the local PC. This defeats the whole purpose of a domain, so you need to choose between setting up roaming profiles or folder redirection.

heartbomb

First off, you can't use XP Home and Server 2003 together. Home lacks support to join a domain. You will need to install XP Pro on all of the client PCs you want to connect to the domain.

Yes you would first install the base OS on the server PC and the workstation PCs. Make sure that everything is working properly and that they can connect to a network. You would then need a switch and connect them all to the switch with CAT5 cable, or wireless too if you like. Then you configure the server.

You can setup the server to do AD, which also means that it will be doing DNS. Then for IP addressing you should configure the server to have a static IP, and to have it act as a DHCP server. This will allow the workstations to get an IP from the server without any individual configurations to each one.

With AD you would setup all of the user accounts on the server and then the users would be authenticated from there on whichever workstation they attempt to login to. You will need to decide how you want to handle profiles, so that each time the user logs in they have the same setup. By default no specefic profile path will be selected and the user would get a generic profile stored on the local PC. This defeats the whole purpose of a domain, so you need to choose between setting up roaming profiles or folder redirection.

frontline

ok for the xp professional. what i dont understand is should i configure the workstation to use automatic IP address and what about the DHCP?????

heartbomb

the best would be to setup DHCP on the server (not the router) and make sure that the clients use the 2k3 server for DNS and just setup a forwarder to your ISP from the server. This way the clients can resolve the servers records to log in to the domain. also If you dont have a registered domain name use domainname.local replace domain name with whatever you want and use the .local as the parent.

Erik I figured as much that you know that but it sounded like you where saying a domain is needed for those and I just wanted to clarify to other readers the domain is not necessary for those services. no big deal.

frontline

I think i just asked somethinh stupid??? well i know now that DHCP is the responsible for the automatic IP addressing.....

frontline

hi erik.
well i am getting to some point in understanding what i actually wanted coz am so stupid around here. well the big matter was that i always had the impression that the domain controlller and the file server are the same stuffs. now i kno wats the diff.
so here is my next scenario explained more cleary;

i want to set up a small LAN with 5 workstations and 1 server with windows server 2003. so when my students come to use the workstations they can log on to any of the 5 workstations because coz they have their account in the server and also the can retrieve some of the tutorials i placed the server. thats the big deal. where to start, i think you would say i shoud set up active directory, ok, i will do it. And then what to do and how to configure the workstations.

thanks.

heartbomb

Basically on the server you will want to setup Active Directory. This wiill force you to install and setup DNS too. Don't worry to much about that stuff, the wizards will do most of the configuration well enough for you. It will even configure the proper settings to be able to lookup things which are not on your network.

The next step would be to setup DHCP. You will want the DHCP server service to hand out the server IP as the DNS server. The default gateway and IP ranges will be up to you depending on how you have your network configured. A typical simple example might be like 192.168.1.1 is your router. Set your server to a static IP of 192.168.1.10, and have it give out IPs in the 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.254 range. This leaves you plenty of room for static IPs if ever needed. Then your default gateway would be 192.168.1.1.

Setup the file server now. Then put whatever shared files you have in a shared folder that all users have the appropriate permissions for. In this case I would guess everyone can read, but only administrators could write. Also look into using a group policy for either folder redirection or roaming profiles if wanted. It isn't necessary, but as mentioned convinient.

On the workstations all you really NEED to do is join them to the domain. Of course there is a lot of further configuration that can be done if wanted or needed.

frontline

Hi again erik.
well i went through microsoft site and did understand quite a lot. also am following your explanations which are adding more to my knowlegde. well till now i have understand how to add create organisational units and thus add user. and also create a username and password for the users.
The thing that i want to ask you is;
1. while configuring the workstation for the server, i will include that workstation to my domain and when the authentication dialog box appears whose username and password should i provide( those of my users or mine).

2. And how would the different users log in any workstation using the login name and password....whats the configuration in this instance....

thanks

heartbomb

There isn't really a need for OUs on such a small network. You don't really have experience with this, and it will just complciate things further. I would leave them out for now, and if you want to play with them for the experience later on then that is fine. At this point it would just make getting things up and running that much harder, and troubleshooting more complicated.

When you join a PC to a domain you need to enter the credentials of a user who has the rights to join a computer to the domain. Basically in your case it would be the administrator account for the server.

When the PCs are joined to the domain you will need to reboot them. When you startup again you will now have a domain style login box (it will ask for a username and password, no more welcome screen). Just create each user account on the server and then give the information to each user. They enter that username and password into the login box and they will be able to login.