Active Directory is a very powerful and flexible and allows you to organise your network into manageable areas called Organisation Units. In this tutorial, we are going to create a basic structure that will allow us to manage both users and computers in a single branch.
When planning for your Server enabled environment, it is important to think about how the server resources will be managed. Where are the user home folders going to live, how will these be accessed and will you require any type of public or resource folders.
If you want to make use of Disk Quotas and Remote Installation Deployment tools, you will need to have separate partitions/drives to store the areas on. It is generally good practice to have at least 2 or more partitions on your Windows Server 2003 machine.
DHCP is a service that is responsible for assigning IP addresses to computers on your network. Using DHCP takes the hassle out of managing your network IP addresses. DHCP is an essential part of using the PXE boot feature of your computers network card.
Getting a company to setup and install your network will always be easier than planning and deploying your own network solution, but if you have the time and are willing to learn then you can save your school some money. This guide will attempt to help you to setup a Windows Server 2003 Domain for your school network.
Since ICT has become a major part of the school curriculum, the use of computers and IT resources has grown exponentially. Almost gone are the days of running a few standalone PCs, or running a Peer to Peer Internet enabled network. It is time to embrace the centralised server environment. It isn't as complex as it seems. This guide will help you to plan for your new network and give you some things to look out for when discussing a network with a third party company.