AD Upgrade

[Guest]

Hi
I then need to move our small network (10 PCs) from the current peer-to-peer
setup to a 'proper' configuration. I will need your help to do this.

One thing you need to know. The machines connecting to the server have a
variety of operating systems: Windows 98, XP Home and XP Pro. I understand
that XP Home will not be able to connect 'properly' to the server, and would
appreciate your advice on whether ActiveDirectory is worth it in a mixed OS
environment. If necessary I will get Pro licences for the XP Home machines.

Need steps to perform this task

REGARDS
Rajnish

 

[Laura E. Hunter \(MVP\)]

Rajnish,

As you've already noted, your XP Home machines would not be able to
participate in an Active Directory domain unless you upgrade/migrate them to
XP professional. XP Pro will connect with no issues, and 98 will connect
with the installation of the Active Directory client to allow for security
settings like SMB signing that 98 doesn't support by default. You can get
more information on the client and where to download it from this link:
http://www.petri.co.il/dsclient_for_win98_nt.htm. Even with the client
extentions installed, though, you'll find that your 98 clients won't be able
to utilize some the features of AD like IPSec - I'd look to upgrading to XP
Pro across the board some time down the road if your budget will support it,
as the security and manageability of your clients will improve
geometrically.

If you've never run an AD network before, you'll probably find that it's a
bit different from managing your current peer-to-peer configuration. I'd
recommend picking up a book on AD administration to get familiar with it,
like O'Reilly's _Inside Active Directory_ (it's on the 2nd edition right
now, but I'd wait for the 3rd ed. that's being released shortly), or
APress's _Active Directory Field Guide_. (Shameless plug alert - yes, I'm
the author of that second one. )


HTH


--
Laura E. Hunter
Microsoft MVP - Windows Server Networking
Author: _Active Directory Consultant's Field Guide_
(http://tinyurl.com/7f8ll)

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