Network base Workgroup support a few hosts without central management.
After you company/network grow, you will have to start to migrate to network base on Domain
model.
The followings instructions will give you a guidelines to achieve this migration in the short and
safe way. The guidelines assume that you migrate single place and serve SMB (Small Medium
Business) network.
Step 1 - Application Commutability a. Please check with you software vendors that the correct applications support
working in Domain base model.
Tip: Some application, like Backup software etc. require special settings (or even reinstall in
some cases) after moving them to Domain base model.
Step 2 - Network IP Settings a. Set static IP to the new infrastructure servers (Domain Controller, Exchange Server,
SQL Server, DHCP Server, DNS Server, File Server etc.).
Set the IP's of the Domain Controllers with active DNS service (and Active Directory DNS zone replica)
as preferred DNS server/s.
b. Enable DHCP service on new server. Your network may use the router/modem or other
server service for DHCP service. Its recommended to disable this service and install
the DHCP service on infrastructure service. This will allow you to use the advanced
settings of Microsoft DHCP server.
c. Change the local DHCP Scope to provide the IP's of the Domain Controllers with active
DNS service (and Active Directory DNS zone replica) as preferred DNS server/s.
Skipping this stage will create long time logon for the clients and other errors.
d. If your network connect to the internet, verity that the current internet network bandwidth
can serve the new services in the network (Mail Server etc.)
Step 3 - Domain Controller Installation a. Its recommended to add the following functions to at lease two domain controllers:
1. DNS Service with Active Directory zone replica.
2. Global Catalog.
b. Please consider to add DNS forwarding to the ISP DNS Servers from the local
DNS Servers.
Step 4 - User Profile Migration 1. After adding the desktops to the domain. Users profile may require to re-configure.
You can use: Windows User State Migration Tool (USMT) version 2.6 to resolve
this issue.
- You can also use "Moveuser.exe" utility, from Windows 2003 Resource Kit to accomplish this task.
2. You can migrate users PST file to Exchange server mailboxes by using
"Exmerge" utility.
Step 5 - Central Management After the desktops and the users profiles migrate to the new users accounts,
you can use advanced management services that the Domain model offer to you:
a. Use Group Policy to raise the local security settings.
b. Install WSUS server to deploy hotfixes to users desktops.
c. Move critical data from the uses desktops to local file server,
schedule daily backup and use the "Shadow Copy" feather of
Windows 2003/2003 R2.
d. Set a local server as printer server.
e. Move the internet mail service from ISP mail system to the local Exchange
server.
Tip: You can request from your ISP to set there mail server/s as backup mail server.
This will allow you to add redundancy to the mail service.
Note: The Domain base model offer lots of services that didn’t include in the
article, but intend to give a few examples of advanced management
services that the Domain model offer to you