1 Domain + 1 domain + syncronised users = possible?

[tarquel]

hehe smarty pants

 

As i said in a earlier post tho, the teacher doesn't want them to use the Internet anyhow & as we only have a max of 2M, its hardly going to be a big strain hehe

 

I've got srv 2003 R2 to install/upgrade on all of these 'ere server's too, so I'm wondering where is the best point to add this to the equation.

 

I'm probably gonna leave out the renaming of the forest and/or domain - as its probably going to tempt fate a bit too much, but R2 before the addition of the music room server or after?

 

Cheers

Nath.

[Geoff]

remember you need to extend the schema if your having R2 DCs

[ajbritton]

Surely what you need here is not another 'domain' but another 'site'. Once you set up the 'site' in AD, you can control how replication traffic flows across the link.

[tarquel]

ahhhh.... that sounds about right ajb - but will the setup know where the client logs on to?

 

and thanks geoff - have already read about that [to the degree of updating the schema ]

 

Nath.

[Geoff]

You have seperate IP subnets and associate each site with a subnet. You then associate a DC with each site. Each DC runs a DHCP server that hands out IPs to clients for each site on the correct subnet.

 

You will need to route traffic correctly over the WAN link. You can do this with Windows server but I'd recommend you buy a couple of decent routers for it.

[tarquel]

thanks for the explaination...

 

"I was with you all the way up to 'Simply'" [Red Dwarf quote]

 

The current range is 10.0.0.0 and 255.255.255.0

 

I dont want to change this again - as last time things went all weird lol and gave me alot of hell in the process [still dont realyl know why tho].

 

Could I just add the music room with the range of 10.0.1.0? I dont fully understand the netmask thing unfortunately tho so if u can suggest the settings - that would be handy

 

The routers / WAP's are using the custom DD-WRT firmware [latest version] that has every feature under the sun lol so routing shudn't be a prob - if i know what to change etc.

 

Cheers

Nath

[Geoff]

No, you need to subnet each 'site' seperately otherwise the site to site replication will not function.

[Teth]

You need a subnet each side so for you it would be something like

 

Network address Subnet Mask

10.0.1.xxx 255.255.255.0

10.0.2.xxx 255.255.255.0

 

Subnet mask just means what part of the ip address represents the network address and what part represents the individual device. the xxx in the above will be your device address part.

 

I don't know if you know binary but its easier to show like that. The 4 groups of numbers in an IP are 4 8bit binary patterns converted to decimal to make it easier to read as a human. so the 10.0.1.xxx and netmask are.

 

00001010 00000000 00000001 xxxxxxxx <--- Address

11111111 11111111 11111111 00000000 <---- Net Mask

 

So a net mask literaly "masks" off which bits of the overall IP that routers and other devices consider the network address. Routing is done based on if the device currently inspecting the packet either has a direct connection to that network or doesn't. If it has a connection it sends the packet there, if it doesn't it sends it out its default gateway and lets the next device worry about it.

 

In short yes. Get your network properly subnetted. Set up your DC in each area and just tell them which interface they need to replicate over. WIndows makes it very simple. a 54g wireless link will be more than adequate to replicate user files and the AD for authentication with bandidth left to use the interweb. If you have any trouble with signal I'll get you a link for some superb cut out and make (blue peter style) signel boosters. They worked wonders for me.

[tarquel]

Wow - thats that stuff i was after Teth thanks lol

 

Yep - i do know binary [theres some deep rooted story in my brain from long long ago about binary.... but i cant resurface it at the moment.... stupid brain that I have hehe] and I always wondered whether netmask associates to netmask and such.

 

God i'm dense sometimes lol

 

I'll have to think about it some more

 

I've got a period of a whole 2 days to set all this up btw lol as I'm not allowed term time off and I have the rest of my annual leave to take [have tried swaping a day or to for term time but it aint gonna happen]

 

so shema update, R2 upgrade on the servers & install R2 on the new server and add it to the domain, and somehow setup the sites

 

So long as it dont break anything I *hope* thats enough time lol

 

Nath.

[Jon]

I don't know if you know binary but its easier to show like that. The 4 groups of numbers in an IP are 4 8bit binary patterns converted to decimal to make it easier to read as a human. so the 10.0.1.xxx and netmask are.

 

 

There are 10 types of people in this world,

 

Those that understand binary, and those that don't...

[tarquel]

lmao I was waiting for that one - and u did it soooo quick lol

 

and yes, i do get the joke

 

Nath.

[Teth]

As promised link for wifi booster which gives 9-12DB boost for the cost of a bit of cardboard, some tinfoil, glue and a sharp pair of scissors.

 

http://www.freeantennas.com/projects/template2/index.html

[Geoff]

Sounds like a job for 6th form students.

[tarquel]

hehe You must have a good 6th form [only joking to ours ]

 

Nath

[tarquel]

Right.....

 

So far I've:

 

- Updated the schema on the AD for Srv 2003 R2 features

- Added the Music Room DC to the domain

- Added the Domain Controller role to the server

- Setup a site in Active Directory Sites and Services as per the guide here:

 

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/technologies/activedirectory/stepbystep/adsrv.mspx

 

[i've even excluded lesson times from the replication schedule to minimise the chance of the wifi link going down - smart ass thinking there.... I hope lol]

 

- Moved the new DC to the site and setup a new subnet in the Subnet section 10.0.1.0 / 255.255.255.0

 

My next question is...um....what do i do now? lol

 

Do I change the server's IP address from an address on the 10.0.0.x range to this new subnet range?

 

Do I need to setup the DNS Role on this server too?

 

Any more thoughts to this multiple site thing would be handy.... I'm getting there tho

 

Cheers very muchly

Nath

[djm968]

I would set the server up as a 2nd DC for your existing domain given the issues you have had with you main DC.

 

This would give you redundancy if the main DC does fail. You could install DNS on this server and configure Zone transfers from the main DC. Replication should not be an issue over the wireless link.

 

I would store the music files locally and set up a GPO to redirect My Documents to the Music DC at logon, or simply map an additional drive to the Music DC and tell the students to save music files there.

[tarquel]

Thats pretty much the plan....

 

Good bye roaming profiles I think lol

 

Nath.

[tarquel]

...and then bad things happened....

 

Exchange 2003 died. Whether it was the R2 upgrade on the server, or whether it was from follow a MS guide relating to using the AD Sites and Services tool [where it mentions renaming the Default-First-Site] I'm not sure.

 

When I tried having a stab at the problem and following another MS guide [regarding Recreating the Virtual Directories of Exchange] which then made things worse...

 

And then to to it all, a driver decided to seperate the RAID back into two seperate drives again within Windows [somehow] so thats spoilt things.

 

Thanks Teth for giving me a hand with the sites & IP ranges etc.... shame everything else fell apart hehe

 

Its gonna be a looooong morning

 

Nath.

[k-strider]

Oh dear sounds like you’ve had the worst possible day!!! Still on the upside you will be an AD and Exchange Expert when you sort it all out......

I’d go with the Site rename rather than the Schema Update that buggered it up... did you go through the Systems Manager and check all the various properties to see if you could find anything relating to Default-First-Name-Site...

 

Good Luck in the AM... Google is your Friend...

 

Note to self don’t change the default-first-name-site name...

[ajbritton]

Just a gut feeling, but I'd agree with K-strider about the site rename. I seem to remember from an Exchange disaster recovery that it's a bit fussy about site names.

 

The other thing you'll need to be careful about now is replication. If you configured the sites to not replicate during lessons, then I'd make sure you force replication manually. Make sure you have REPLMON to hand. It's either in the resource kit tools or the support tools pack on the 2K3 CD. You might also be needing ADSIEDIT (gulp).

[tarquel]

Here we go... *readies himself for a loooong morning* hehe

 

Thanks guys for the thoughts....

 

The first thing i did was put the site name back to First-Default-Site but didn't seem to make any differenece

 

You don't think it was R2's upgrade to the server, namely, the Application Role when I upgraded it?

 

I'm going to try restoring the config backup i made during the Virtual Directories recreation and see how that goes.

 

Also, after leaving the RAID supposedly rebuild fine last night, on a reboot.... OS not found

 

Note to self "never install a RAID driver in windows - especially not one that might decide to play with your RAID setup without asking you"

 

So there goes the new DC.... didn't take long to setup, but I wonder how that effects the AD and stuff... Do I just delete it from the AD?

 

Nath.

[tarquel]

Hooray....Well....some success anyhow....

 

Seemed to have managed to restore the Virtual Directories back on IIS from that config file....

 

Just can't get the services to come back on for Exchange....

 

Nath.

[tarquel]

...thanks to the addition of the extra site.

 

Although I dont have it here at home, one of the error codes in the Event Viewer refers to not being in a site.

 

According to one snip of info I obtained, when installing/using Exchange on a single site domain, it just uses that site, but for some confusing reason, when an additional site is added to a domain, it "doesn't know what to be in anymore".

 

Question is, how do I tell it to be in one of these sites?

 

Until I can get it in a site, i can't restart the exchange related services, and thus, exchange doesnt work.

 

Any ideas? Something i need to change outside of exchange possibly? *coughs DNS lol*

 

Is there a good procedure to backing up everything in exchange, in order to uninstall it and then install it again, and put the storage folders back etc?

 

Cheers

Nath

[Ric_]

You could try installing Exchange on another box, migrating the users to that, removing the first Exchange install, re-install Exchange and migrate the users back. The migration of users between two Exchange servers in the same Enterprise is relatively straight forward (ExchangeServer.org covers it in full).

[k-strider]

if you remove your exchange server besure to read this

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822931 <- Exchange 2K3 or

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307917 <-Exchange 2K

 

I wonder if you would beable to move the mailboxes over if the original Exchange Server Services are not starting... i moved the mail boxes from one server to another and yes it is very easy but both my exchange servers were alive at the time!!

 

I don't think your so lucky as to make DNS changes to make exchange work all that will have with regards to exchange is MX records..

 

i hope you don't need to use ADSI Edit ... eak...