Question:
I need help setting up windows server.?
NEB 1993
2010-04-27 07:57:04 UTC
At my company office, I need to set up my Windows Server 2003 Server to work...

6 XP Pro Computers, where an employee can log in to any of the computers and access there documents, emails etc. We also need a shared area where we can all place documents etc.

I followed instructions to the letter (several attempts as well) that I found on the web with no joy, Somebody please tell me which server roles I need, and also what settings I need in each of the roles. Please help me out.

the server has only one network interface, so I ethernet it to my DSL Router (with routers DHCP Server on), along with the other PC's - also assigned by DHCP currently.

I need help not only setting the server up correctly, but then linking the computers too it. Please help me out.

The domain i want for the network is NATHANNET, so in answers please use this instead of examples / substitutes, i will follow directions to the letter.

Tell me what ip to assign and everything (if i have to turn dhcp off) so i wont get it wrong in the slightest.

Thank you in advance, i know this is a ball ache! haha
Four answers:
no no
2010-04-27 08:12:45 UTC
You can do this a number of ways but the best way since you mentioned it would be to establish a domain on the network in question.



1. On the Windows 2003 Server you need to run a command named dcpromo to promote your server to a domain controller. Follow the on-screen instructions.



2. You can continue to use the IP addresses assigned by your router or you can let the Windows server function as the DHCP server and issue addresses. This is up to you. If you have a typical consumer DSL router I would recommend you to let Windows Server 2003 perform the DHCP functions because a lot of DSL router's DHCP do not support proper name resolutions for the domain functions when you let it issue the IP address information. So you could run into situations where you try to access a server by its system name and you won't get any connection because the DSL router is not aware of the system's name. At this time you should also establish a DNS server role for the sever.



3. Configure the DHCP server to issue the same IP range that your current DSL router is using and disable the DHCP functions on the router.



4. After you got the domain controller up and going you need to create user accounts for each user. You also at this point will want to enable the File and Print services feature of Windows 2003 server. You can create a file share and give ALL users that you previously created read, write, or read and write permissions to this share.



5. Next steps would be connecting to each individual PC and joining them to the domain. The systems in question in the case of Windows XP need to be the Professional edition. Windows XP home will not work. In the case of Vista it needs to be Vista Business,Ultimate, or enterprise - vista home and home premium will not work. In the case of Windows 7 it needs to be Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate or Enterprise - starter and home editions will not work. In all cases you can join the system to the domain from the Control Panel --> System.



6.

After you have done all of this you need to add the shared folder as a shared drive on each system. You can do this manually or the better way is via group policy which is a bit more complex to describe all in detail here. Basically group policy allows you to set settings on a large subset of systems via a script that will run whenever a domain user logins or whenever a domain joined system connects to the network.



To do it manually you could type at a command prompt: net use [drive letter here]: \\servername\filesharename



So for example net use z: \\mydc\mysharename would create a drive letter of Z: on the system that is connected to a server named MyDC that has a fileshare name of mysharename. The user in question needs to have the appropriate permissions on this share otherwise the connection attempt will fail.



7.

Now you said you want to have each users documents and email available on every computer they login to I'm assuming is what you are trying to say. In this case you will need to use a roaming profile which will cause the users settings to be stored centrally on the server and will 'roam' to the system that they login into when they connect.

This will require an additional file share that is unique to each user.





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2010-04-27 08:07:22 UTC
What I would recommend is disable DHCP on the router. Enable DHCP on the Windows server, and enable DNS on the server, make sure Active Directory services are running, and connect all the computers to the Active Directory. Make sure when you set up the DHCP scope you tell it to look at the server (not the router) for DNS.



If you need reading materials for Windows Server, I recommend the SAMS Windows Server 2003 Unleashed book. Its the best resource I know of in book form. You can also check out Petri IT Knowledgebase website, url is below.
2016-04-14 10:19:03 UTC
For your scenario, I'd recommend you set up and USE active directory. It will be a steep learning curve and Active Directory is really designed for much larger networks. This will give you some hands on with Active Directory and the things it can and can not do well. Active Directory will allow you to set up organizational units, various rights, permissions, and trusts at the server that will be implemented on the affected client systems automatically when they log in to the Domain. As far as extra hardware, I would recommend you place two NICs in the server system. Also I would suggest you maximize the RAM by upgrading the server system to 2G of RAM. Any 32 bit OS can only access 3.5G of RAM and 2G is the "sweet spot" for 32 bit versions. If you install the 64 bit variant, then go with 4G of RAM if your mobo can handle it. Microsoft has tons of informative web guides related to your particular issue. It will make much more sense for you to visit the Technet section of Microsoft as you encounter issues.
Aaron Patton
2010-04-27 08:09:13 UTC
Step 1



Disable the DHCP service on your DSL router



Step 2



Assign your server a static IP address. If the router is 192.168.1.1 the server could be 192.168.1.254



Step 3



Turn on your Server 2003's DHCP service with a range of 192..168.1.2 -192.168.1.99, mask of 255.255.255.0 gateway of 192.168.1.1 (assuming that is the DSL router)



Step 4



Reboot the computers on the network


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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