Setting up an office server

[denniskoshy]

We currently use a work group environment in our office and have a total of about 50 PCS which can increase in the future. We are in the process of setting up a server environment and needed help on the same. We require 2 servers, one would be our domain controller,dhcp server and the active directory. The other will be a file server and an exchange server for our email applications. Can someone help me out with a step by step procedure that would require to be carried out in setting up of the servers? Server OS will be Windows 2003 Server. The servers will also require to support Raid 5, so can you also advice recommended motherboards with on board raid controllers and a decent processor for the same. I have to achieve this in short span of time so please advice in return at the earliest.

 

[boonality]

You had better not build this, you better buy a Dell with microsoft's small business server... trust me you will want the support. Especially if terms like forest prep, dc promo, schema extensions, and group policy mean very little to you at this point.

Where are you located? There is no step by step to this, Active Directory and ESPECIALLY exchange need to be setup custom to your operating needs.

 

[boonality]

Also I have been thinking about this, you'll need 2 DC's for reduncancy, both servers (your primary DC and your exchange server will need to have AD installed basically). Also you'll need to promote the server with AD and exchange on it to a global catalog. Also with exchange and AD you'll need a real domain and a static IP from your ISP, are you setup that way? And with that in place you'll need to consider a permanent firewall such as sidewinder or microsofts ISA. You'll probably want a proxy too.

Oh boy, can you tell I do this for a living? Only my I have 3 major forests, two with one child domain, one with 12 child domains, one with over 600,000 users, both of the other two with over 75,000 users. Hmm maybe you need to find an IT person to do that stuff for you, it's a LOT to consider.

 

[Fruity]

You had better not build this, you better buy a Dell with microsoft's small business server... trust me you will want the support. Especially if terms like forest prep, dc promo, schema extensions, and group policy mean very little to you at this point.

Where are you located? There is no step by step to this, Active Directory and ESPECIALLY exchange need to be setup custom to your operating needs.

Echoe that. There's reason that good network engineers and admin are paid a fortune!

 

[huron]

I didn't have any trouble building this same setup in VMware at all. I did it as an independent study.

There are tons of tutorials out there about how to do this.

If you're not comfortable, or would like the warranty (Big plus), buy the server.

You will need a DC on the Exchange Server for sure (just point it to the original).

I can't believe you have an environment that large without having a client-server model yet. That's amazing.