Windows Server 2008 ADS and DNS Installation Step by Step

Requirements for Active Directory Domain Services

Let’s go through some of the requirements for a fresh install of Active Directory Domain Services. Some of these will be required to be done before hand; others as noted can be done during the install:

• Install Windows Server 2008
• Configure TCP/IP and DNS networking configurations
• The disk drives that store SYSVOL must be on a local drive configured NTFS
• Active Directory requires DNS to be installed in the network. If it is not already installed you can specify DNS server to be installed during the Active Directory Domain Services installation.

Once you verify that these requirements have been met we can get started.

Install Active Directory Domain Services via Server Manager

For the first example let’s start by installing Active Directory through Server Manager. This is the most straight forward way, as a wizard will guide you through the steps necessary.

1. Start Server Manager.

2. Select Roles in the left pane, then click on Add Roles in the center console.

3. Depending on whether you checked off to skip the Before You Beginpage while installing another service, you will now see warning pages telling you to make sure you have strong security, static IP, and latest patches before adding roles to your server.

If you get this page, then just click Next.

4. In the Select Server Roles window we are going to place a check next to Active Directory Domain Services and click Next.

5. The information page on Active Directory Domain Services will give the following warnings, which after reading, you should click Next:

• Install a minimum of two Domain Controllers to provide redundancy against server outage (which would prevent users from logging in with only one)
• AD DS requires DNS which if not installed you will be prompted for
• After installing AD DS you must run dcpromo.exe to upgrade to a fully functional domain controller
• Installing AD DS will also install DFS Namespaces, DFS Replication, and Filer Replication services which are required by Directory Service

6. The Confirm Installation Selections screen will show you some information messages and warn that the server may need to be restarted after installation.

Review the information and then click Next.

7. The Installation Results screen will hopefully show Installation Succeeded, and an additional warning about running dcpromo.exe (I think they really want us to run dcpromo).

After you review the, click Close.

8. After the Installation Wizard closes you will see that server manager is showing that Active Directory Domain Services is still not running. This is because we have not run dcpromo yet.

9. Click on the Start button, type dcpromo.exe in the search box and either hit Enter or click on the search result.

10. The Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard will now start.

There are links to more information if you want to learn a bit more you can follow them or you can go ahead and click Use advanced mode installation and then click Next.

11. The next screen warns about some operating system compatibility with some older clients.

and after you have read through it go ahead and click Next.

12. Next is the Choose Deployment Configuration screen and you can choose to add a domain to an existing forest or create a forest from scratch.

Choose Create a new domain in a new forest and click Next.

13. The Name the Forest Root Domain wants you to name the root domain of the forest you are creating.

For the purposes of this test we will create ADExample.com. After typing that go ahead and click Next.

14. The wizard will test to see if that name has been used, after a few seconds you will then be asked for the NetBios name for the domain.

In this case I will leave the default in place of ADEXAMPLE, and then clickNext.

15. The next screen is the Set Forest Functional Level that allows you to choose the function level of the forest.

Since this is a fresh install and a new forest with no additional prior version domains to worry about I am going to select Windows Server 2008. If you did have other domain controllers at earlier versions or had a need to have Windows 2000 or 2003 domain controllers (because of Exchange for example), then you should select the appropriate function level.

Select Windows Server 2008 and then click Next.

16. Now we come to the Additional Domain Controller Options where you can select to install a DNS server, which is recommended on the first domain controller.

If this was not the first domain controller you would have the options of installing Global Catalog and/or setting this as a Read-only Domain Controller. Since it is the first domain controller, Global Catalog is mandatory, and a RDOC controller is not an available option.

Let’s install the DNS Server by placing a check next to it and clicking Next.

17. You will get a warning window about delegation for this DNS server cannot be created, but since this is the first DNS server you can just clickYes and ignore this warning.

18. Next you can choose to place the files that are necessary for Active Directory, including the Database, Log Files, and SYSVOL.

It is recommended to place the log files and database on a separate volume for performance and recoverability. You can just leave the defaults though and click Next.

19. Now choose a password for Directory Services Restore Mode that is different than the domain password. Type your password and confirm it before hitting Next.

Note: You should use a STRONG password for this and will be warned if it doesn’t meet criteria.

20. Next you will see a summary of all the options you have went through in the wizard.

If you plan on creating more domain controllers with the same settings hit the Export settings … button to save off a txt copy of the settings to use in an answer file for a scripted install. After exporting and reviewing settings click on Next.

21. Now the installation will start including the DNS server option if selected. You will notice a box to Reboot on completion that you can check to reboot soon as everything is installed (A reboot is required you can do it manually or use this function to do it automatically).

NOTE: This can be from a few minutes to several hours depending on different factors.

Confirming Active Directory Domain Services Install

When you reboot you will be asked to login to the domain, and be able to open Active Directory Users and Computers from the Administrative menu.

When you do you will see the domain ADExample.com and be able to manage the domain.

You have now successfully installed Active Directory Domain Services and the first Domain Controller.

Windows Server 2008 Installation Component Requirement	Step by Step
Processor	• Minimum: 1GHz (x86 processor) or 1.4GHz (x64 processor) • Recommended: 2GHz or faster Note: An Intel Itanium 2 processor is required for Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems
Memory	• Minimum: 512MB RAM • Recommended: 2GB RAM or greater • Maximum (32-bit systems): 4GB (Standard) or 64GB (Enterprise and Datacenter) • Maximum (64-bit systems): 32GB (Standard) or 2TB (Enterprise, Datacenter and Itanium-based Systems)
Available Disk Space	• Minimum: 10GB • Recommended: 40GB or greater Note: Computers with more than 16GB of RAM will require more disk space for paging, hibernation, and dump files
Drive	DVD-ROM drive
Display and Peripherals	• Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution monitor • Keyboard • Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

Upgrade notes:

I will not discuss the upgrade process in this article, but for your general knowledge, the upgrade paths available for Windows Server 2008 shown in the table below:

If you are currently running:	You can upgrade to:
Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition (R2, Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2)	Full Installation of Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition Full Installation of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition (R2, Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2)	Full Installation of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition
Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition (R2, Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2)	Full Installation of Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition

Follow this procedure to install Windows Server 2008:

1. Insert the appropriate Windows Server 2008 installation media into your DVD drive. If you don't have an installation DVD for Windows Server 2008, you can download one for free from Microsoft's Windows 2008 Server Trial website.

2. Reboot the computer.

3. When prompted for an installation language and other regional options, make your selection and press Next.

4. Next, press Install Now to begin the installation process.

5. Product activation is now also identical with that found in Windows Vista. Enter yourProduct ID in the next window, and if you want to automatically activate Windows the moment the installation finishes, click Next.

If you do not have the Product ID available right now, you can leave the box empty, and click Next. You will need to provide the Product ID later, after the server installation is over. Press No.

6. Because you did not provide the correct ID, the installation process cannot determine what kind of Windows Server 2008 license you own, and therefore you will be prompted to select your correct version in the next screen, assuming you are telling the truth and will provide the correct ID to prove your selection later on.

7. If you did provide the right Product ID, select the Full version of the right Windows version you're prompted, and click Next.

8. Read and accept the license terms by clicking to select the checkbox and pressing Next.

9. In the "Which type of installation do you want?" window, click the only available option –Custom (Advanced).

10. In the "Where do you want to install Windows?", if you're installing the server on a regular IDE hard disk, click to select the first disk, usually Disk 0, and click Next.

If you're installing on a hard disk that's connected to a SCSI controller, click Load Driver and insert the media provided by the controller's manufacturer.

If you're installing in a Virtual Machine environment, make sure you read the "Installing the Virtual SCSI Controller Driver for Virtual Server 2005 on Windows Server 2008"

If you must, you can also click Drive Options and manually create a partition on the destination hard disk.

11. The installation now begins, and you can go and have lunch. Copying the setup files from the DVD to the hard drive only takes about one minute. However, extracting and uncompressing the files takes a good deal longer. After 20 minutes, the operating system is installed. The exact time it takes to install server core depends upon your hardware specifications. Faster disks will perform much faster installs… Windows Server 2008 takes up approximately 10 GB of hard drive space.

The installation process will reboot your computer, so, if in step #10 you inserted a floppy disk (either real or virtual), make sure you remove it before going to lunch, as you'll find the server hanged without the ability to boot (you can bypass this by configuring the server to boot from a CD/DVD and then from the hard disk in the booting order on the server's BIOS)

12. Then the server reboots you'll be prompted with the new Windows Server 2008 type of login screen. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to log in.

13. Click on Other User.

14. The default Administrator is blank, so just type Administrator and press Enter.

15. You will be prompted to change the user's password. You have no choice but to press Ok.

16. In the password changing dialog box, leave the default password blank (duh, read step #15…), and enter a new, complex, at-least-7-characters-long new password twice. A password like "topsecret" is not valid (it's not complex), but one like "T0pSecreT!" sure is. Make sure you remember it.

17. Someone thought it would be cool to nag you once more, so now you'll be prompted to accept the fact that the password had been changed. Press Ok.

18. Finally, the desktop appears and that's it, you're logged on and can begin working. You will be greeted by an assistant for the initial server configuration, and after performing some initial configuration tasks, you will be able to start working.

Next, for the initial configuration tasks please follow my other Windows Server 2008 articles found on the Related Windows Server 2008 Articles section below.

What is RAID? 

In 1987, Patterson, Gibson and Katz at the University of California Berkeley, published a paper entitled "A Case for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)" . This paper described various types of disk arrays, referred to by the acronym RAID. The basic idea of RAID was to combine multiple small, inexpensive disk drives into an array of disk drives which yields performance exceeding that of a Single Large Expensive Drive (SLED). Additionally, this array of drives appears to the computer as a single logical storage unit or drive.

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks and it basically involves 

combining two or more drives together to improve the performance and the fault tolerance. 

Combining two or more drives together also offers improved reliability and larger data volume sizes.A RAID distributes the data across several disks and the operating system considers this array as a single disk. 

Using Multiple Hard Drives for Performance and Reliability.

Types of RAID :

RAID 0 - Striping:

It is the Stripped Disk Array with no fault tolerance and it requires at least 2 drives to be implemented. Due to no redundancy feature, RAID 0 is considered to be the lowest ranked RAID level. Striped data mapping technique is implemented for high performance at low cost. 

The I/O performance is also improved as it is loaded across many channels. Regeneration, Rebuilding and functional redundancy are some salient features of RAID 0.

Raid1: Disk mirroring is the basic function occurs.

      1. It creats exact copy of one physical harddisk to another.

      2. It uses one controller

      3. If one drive fails system will boot with other drive.

      4. slow performance.

      5. Increased cost every mirror must be seperate physical device thus you must purchase   twice the storage capacity.

      6. no protection from controller failure.: if controller failure , the mirrored drives as just   inaccessible.

RAID 0+1:

It is the RAID array providing high data transference performance with at least 4 disks needed to implement the RAID 0+1 level. 

It's a unique combination of stripping and mirroring with all the best features of RAID 0 and RAID 1 included such as fast data access and fault tolerance at single drive level. The multiple stripe segments have added high I/O rates to the RAID performance and it is the best solution for maximum reliability.

RAID 2 (ECC):

It is the combination of Inherently Parallel Mapping and Protection RAID array. It's also known as ECC RAID because each data word bit is written to data disk which is verified for correct data or correct disk error when the RAID disk is read. Due to special disk features required, RAID 2 is not very popular among the corporate data storage masses, despite the extremely high data transference rates.

RAID 3:

RAID 3 works on the Parallel Transfer with Parity technique. The least number of disks required to implement the RAID array is 3 disks. 

In the RAID 3, data blocks are striped and written on data drives and then the stripe parity is generated, saved and afterwards used to verify the disk reads. Read and write data transfer rate is very high in RAID 3 array and disk failure causes insignificant effects on the overall performance of the RAID.

RAID 4:

RAID 4 requires a minimum of 3 drives to be implemented. It is composed of independent disks with shared parity to protect the data. Data transaction rate for Read is exceptionally high and highly aggregated. Similarly, the low ratio of parity disks to data disks indicates 

high efficiency.

RAID 5:

RAIDS 5 is Independent Distributed parity block of data disks with a minimum requirement of at least 3 drives to be implemented and N-1 array capacity. It helps in reducing the write inherence found in RAID 4. RAID 5 array offers highest data transaction Read rate, medium data transaction Write rate and good cumulative transfer rate.

Raid 5: Disk stripping with parity.It is completely Software based and higly secured technology.

      1. Raid 5 is in-expensive, but very convinient.

      2.The parity information is stored distributed in different disk .

      3.If one of the disk fails , it is hot swappable.

      4.Parity information is stored in other Harddisk is automatically 

 updated to failed one.

      5.If more than one disk fails, it should be restored from backup.

RAID 6:

RAIDS 6 is Independent Data Disk array with Independent Distributed parity. It is known to be an extension of RAID level 5 with extra fault tolerance and distributed parity scheme added. RAID 6 is the best available RAID array for mission critical applications and data storage needs, though the controller design is very complex and overheads are extremely high.

RAID 7:

RAID 7 is the Optimized Asynchrony array for high I/O and data transfer rates and is considered to be the most manageable RAID controller available. The overall write performance is also known to be 50% to 90% better and improved than the single spindle 

array levels with no extra data transference required for parity handling. RAID 7 is registered as a standard trademark of Storage Computer Corporation.

RAID 10:

RAID 10 is classified as the futuristic RAID controller with extremely high Reliability and performance embedded in a single RAID controller. 

The minimum requirement to form a RAID level 10 controller is 4 data disks. The implementation of RAID 10 is based on a striped array  of RAID 1 array segments, with almost the same fault tolerance level as RAID 1. RAID 10 controllers and arrays are suitable for 

uncompromising availability and extremely high throughput required systems an environment.

With all the significant RAID levels discussed here briefly, another important point to add is that whichever level of RAID is used regular and consistent data backup maintenance using tape storage is must as the regular tape storage is best media to recover from lost data scene.

RAID 1:

RAID 1 uses mirroring to write the data to the drives. It also offers fault tolerance from the disk errors and the array continues to operate efficiently as long as at least one drive is functioning properly.

The trade-off associated with the RAID 1 level is the cost required to purchase the additional disks to store data.

RAID 2:

It uses Hamming Codes for error correction. In RAID 2, the disks are synchronized and they're striped in very small stripes. It requires multiple parity disks.

RAID 3:

This level uses a dedicated parity disk instead of rotated parity stripes and offers improved performance and fault tolerance. 

The benefit of the dedicated parity disk is that the operation continues without parity if the parity drive stops working during the operation.

RAID 4:

It is similar to RAID 3 but it does block-level stripping instead of the byte-level stripping and as a result, a single file can be stored in blocks. RAID 4 allows multiple I/O requests in parallel but the data transfer speed will be less. 

Block level parity is used to perform the error detection.

RAID 5:

RAID 5 uses block-level stripping with distributed parity and it requires all drives but one to be present to operate correctly. 

The reads are calculated from the distributed parity upon the drive failure and the entire array is not destroyed by a single drive failure. 

However, the array will lose some data in the event of the second drive failure.

The above standard RAID levels can be combined together in different ways to create Nested RAID Levels which offer improved performance.

 Some of the known Nested RAID Levels are -

      RAID 0+1

      RAID 1+0

      RAID 3+0

      RAID 0+3

      RAID 10+0

      RAID 5+0

      RAID 6+0

Hardware RAID

• A conventional Hardware RAID consists of a RAID controller that is installed into the PC or server, and the array drives are connected to it.
• In high end external intelligent RAID controllers, the RAID controller is removed completely from the system to a separate box. Within the box the RAID controller manages the drives in the array, typically using SCSI, and then presents the logical drives of the array over a standard interface (again, typically a variant of SCSI) to the server using the array.

Software RAID:

In software RAID a software does the work of RAID controller in place of a hardware. Instead of using dedicated hardware controllers or intelligent boxes, we use a particular software that manages and implements RAID array with a system software routine.

Comparing Hardware RAID & Software RAID

Portability

• OS Portability

  Software RAID is not usable across operating systems. So you cannot, for example, use two RAID disks configured in Linux with Windows XP and vice versa. This is big issue for dual booting systems where you will either have to provide a non-RAID disk for data sharing between the two operating system or use hardware RAID instead.

  As you know, dual booting is mostly obsolete these days as you can run multiple operating systems on the same machine using virtualization software like vmware & xen.

• Hardware Portability

  Software RAID

  In Linux you can mirror two disks using RAID-1, including the boot partition. If for any reason the hardware goes bad, you can simply take the harddisk to a different machine and it will just run fine on the new hardware. Also with a RAID-1 array, each of the harddisk will have full copy of the operating system and data, effectively providing you with two backups, each of which can be run from a different hardware.

  Unfortunately in Windows it is not so easy to switch a operating systrem from one hardware to another, but that is the story of priprietary licenses and we will keep it for another day.

  Hardware RAID

  Hardware RAID is not so portable. You cannot just swap the hardware to a different machine and hope it will work. You have to find a Motherboard which is compatible with your RAID controller card; otherwise you can kiss your data goodbye. Also there is a bigger issue of problem with the RAID controller itself. If it fails and you cannot get the same controller from the market (and it has probably become obsolete by then), then again you can kiss your data goodbye.

Easy & Speedy Recovery

It may seem trivial but trust me, for a busy and loaded server, an easy and speedy recovery, that too inside the operating system without having to reboot is what one can dream of. Imagine if during the peak hours, your RAID system crashes and you are forced to reboot the machine to make changes to it to restore your data! Software RAID's like in Linux, not only continues working even when the hardware has failed, but also starts restoring the RAID array, should any spare disk be available. All of these happens in the background and without affecting your users. This is where software RAID shines brilliantly.

System Performance

Software RAID uses the CPU to do the work of the RAID controller. This is why high-end hardware RAID controller outperforms software RAID, especially for RAID-5, because it has a high powered dedicated processor. However for low end hardware RAID, the difference may be neglible to non-existent. In fact it is possible for the software RAID perform better than low end hardware RAID controller simply because today's desktop's and workstations are powered by very powerful processors and the task is trivial to them.

Support for RAID Standards

High-end Hardware RAID may be slightly more versatile than Software RAID in support for various RAID levels. Software RAID is normally support levels 0, 1, 5 and 10 (which is a combination of RAID 0 and RAID 1) whereas many Hardware RAID controller can also support esoteric RAID levels such as RAID 3 or RAID 1+0. But frankly who uses them?

Cost

This is where software RAID again scores over hardware RAID. Software RAID is free. Hardware RAID is moderate to high priced and can put a strain on your budget if deployed widely.

But over the years the cost of hardware RAID has come down exponentially. So it may not be too far when more affordable RAID-5 cards will be built-in on newer motherboards.

Future Proof

Gone are the days when we could associate software RAIDs with bugs and OS problems. Nowadays software RAIDs are almost flawless. We are using software RAID in linux operating system for several years and haven't experienced any problem whatsoever. On the contrary, hardware RAID has a single point of failure and that is its hardware controller. If it crashes then your only option is to find another equivalent RAID controller from the market; by this time the model may become obsolete and you may not even find anything compatible. You are as such faced with the haunting prospect of losing all your data, should the RAID controller fail. Software RAID will never become obsolete and will continue to get updated with updated versions of your operating system.

Why Use RAID? Benefits and Costs, Tradeoffs and Limitations

RAID offers many advantages over the use of single hard disks, but it is clearly not for everyone. The potential for increased capacity, performance and reliability are attractive, but they come with real costs. Nothing in life is free. In this section I take an overview look at RAID, to help explain its benefits, costs, tradeoffs and limitations. This should give you a better idea if RAID is for you, and help you to understand what RAID can do--and what it can't do.

As you read on, it's essential to keep in mind that with RAID, it's definitely the case that "the devil is in the details". Most common blanket statements made about RAID like "RAID improves availability" or "RAID is for companies that need fast database service" or "RAID level 5 is better than RAID level 0" are only true at best part of the time. In almost every case, it depends. Usually, what RAID is and what it does for you depends on what type you choose and how you implement and manage it. For example, for some applications RAID 5 is better than RAID 0; for others, RAID 0 is vastly superior to RAID 5! There are situations where a RAID design, hardware and software that would normally result in high reliability could result instead in disaster if they are not properly controlled.

RAID Benefits

Alright, let's take a look at the good stuff first. :^) RAID really does offer a wealth of significant advantages that would be attractive to almost any serious PC user . (Unfortunately, there are still those pesky costs ,tradeoffs  and limitations  to be dealt with... :^) ) The degree that you realize the various benefits below does depend on the exact type of RAID that is set up and how you do it, but you are always going to get some combination of the following:

Higher Data Security: Through the use of redundancy, most RAID levels provide protection for the data stored on the array. This means that the data on the array can withstand even the complete failure of one hard disk (or sometimes more) without any data loss, and without requiring any data to be restored from backup. This security feature is a key benefit of RAID and probably the aspect that drives the creation of more RAID arrays than any other. All RAID levels  provide some degree of data protection , depending on the exact implementation, except RAID level 0 .

Fault Tolerance: RAID implementations that include redundancy provide 

a much more reliable overall storage subsystem than can be achieved by a single disk. 

This means there is a lower chance of the storage subsystem as a whole failing 

due to hardware failures. (At the same time though, the added hardware used in 

RAID means the chances of having a hardware problem of some sort 

with an individual component, even if it doesn't take down the storage subsystem, is increased

Improved Availability: Availability refers to access to data. Good RAID systems improve availability both by providing fault tolerance and by providing special features that allow for recovery from hardware faults without disruption. 

Increased, Integrated Capacity: By turning a number of smaller drives into a larger array, 

you add their capacity together (though a percentage of total capacity is lost to overhead or 

redundancy in most implementations). This facilitates applications that require large

 amounts of contiguous disk space, and also makes disk space management simpler. 

Let's suppose you need 300 GB of space for a large database. Unfortunately, no hard disk 

manufacturer makes a drive nearly that large. You could put five 72 GB drives into the system,

 but then you'd have to find some way to split the database into five pieces, and you'd be 

stuck with trying to remember what was were. Instead, you could set up a RAID 0 array 

containing those five 72 GB hard disks; this will appear to the operating system as a single,

 360 GB hard disk! All RAID implementations provide this "combining" benefit, though the 

ones that include redundancy of course "waste" some of the space on that redundant information.

Improved Performance: Last, but certainly not least, RAID systems improve performance by allowing  the controller to exploit the capabilities of multiple hard disks to get around performance-limiting mechanical issues that plague individual hard disks. Different RAID implementations improve performance in different ways and to different degrees, but all improve it in some way.

Types of BACKUPs:

Normal

Copy

Incremental

Differental

Daily 

What is a level 0 backup?

  Level 0 backups are also known as “full” backups. ALL data on a system is copied.. A normal backup disregards the archive bit in all files and backs up all files and folders selected, regardless of when they were modified. 

      A normal backup is the most complete type of backup, and the only type of backup that can be used to back up the registry 

      and other critical system files. A normal backup takes the longest amount of time to back up and recover. 

      A normal backup clears the archive bit on all files after backing up.

What is an incremental backup?

An incremental backup is the quickest method for performing backups of data. 

An incremental backup only backs up files that have been created or modified (their archive bit is set to 1) 

since the last normal or incremental backup. An incremental backup also clears the archive bit (sets the archive bit back to 0) of all  files that it backs up.

An Incremental backup is copying data that has only changed since the last FULL backup.