Configuring Other Servers
Windows Server 2003 includes a plethora of other servers and services that may even be beneficial to you. All of these can be configured through the Configure Your Server Wizard (which is what we used to configure all other servers) and most are managed via MMC’s. The other servers range in function and purpose, but in general, DO NOT install a server/service unless you have a need to! Installing servers and services (especially on a server “facing” the Internet) presents a very real and present risk of attack. In addition, running additional services requires more memory, processing power, and disk space.
I will now run through some of the more notable servers that are included with Windows.
- DHCP Server
The Windows DHCP Server allows your server to dynamically assign and configure IP addresses for clients that request said information. Generally, network hardware can perform this function with relative ease, but Windows includes the option in case your hardware just can’t handle it.
- Routing and VPN Access
The “Remote Access / VPN Server” service allows a Windows Server to act as either a VPN server, NAT-capable router, or both. Through this service, your server can act as a router (a bastion host) provided that it has a connection to the Internet that it wishes to share as well as a connection to other nodes. Additionally, your server can also provide VPN access to remote clients.
- WINS Server
The WINS Server function allows your server to easily resolve NetBIOS names to IP addresses, not unlike a DNS Server for NetBIOS.
- Streaming Media Service(s)
The Streaming Media Server allows your server to stream digital media to clients in an efficient and effective manner. It is to some degree specialized to work with Windows Media Player.
- Terminal Services
Windows Terminal Services are directed towards large companies that wish to offer applications or even a full virtual desktop to “dumb clients.” (Note that I am speaking concerning the level of the intelligence of the hardware and not the user.) Generally speaking, you would probably not be interested in this.
- Print Server
All Windows systems generally have the ability to be “print servers” – that is, they can share printers out to the network. Windows Server 2003 is no exception.
Other Microsoft Servers
Microsoft offers some other servers that allow additional functionality and greater ease of management. Here are some of them.
- Exchange Server 2003
Although Windows Server includes the “POP3 Service,” it is somewhat limited in functionality when compared to Exchange Server. Exchange allows a Windows Server to operate as a full-fledged messaging server where all messages and communications are located centrally (providing the most scalability and reliability). Unfortunately, like all good things, Exchange Server is not free and probably requires its own setup tutorial, but it is a viable option for those who want more flexibility, centralization, and ease of administration than a simple POP3 Server has to offer.
- SQL Server 2003
Microsoft offers database functionality through SQL Server 2003. Some enterprise applications require SQL Server and some are greatly enhanced by it, but unless you see a need for database functionality (i.e. software that you use requires it), don’t spring for SQL Server.
- WSUS (Windows Server Update Services)
WSUS is one of my favorite tools that Microsoft offers. WSUS is used to update Windows clients automatically and systematically, typically through Group Policy. Best of all, WSUS is completely free and available for all Windows Server 2003 releases; however, you will have to spend some time configuring your server (domain controller) to work with and utilize it. Download and learn more about it at: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/updateservices/default.mspx
- SMS (Systems Management Services)
SMS is a complete suite offered by Microsoft to deploy applications and updates as well as integrate key Windows features to make systems management easier. Generally, this is for larger organizations and probably not necessary for you as it is not free.
Other Servers
There are many, many different server programs that are available for Windows Server 2003. Some of these are in direct competition with Microsoft offerings; these include some free products such as Apache Web Server and MySQL as well as some commercial offerings such as GFI patch management products and Lotus messaging software.
The bottom line is that before any you decide to deploy any server(s), remember to consider three things: First, decide if the server you wish to deploy is truly necessary. Second, research and determine if a free or open-source alternative is available. Finally, determine if the server that you wish to deploy is secure and reliable enough for your operation.
That’s all, folks!
There is nothing too special about Windows Server 2003 as compared to any other Windows offering; in fact, it bears many more similarities than differences to these other offerings. Often you will find yourself wanting to do something, either with Group Policy or Active Directory or any other feature. I can tell you that the first and foremost resource for finding this information is Microsoft itself and its deep knowledge base. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/articleindex.mspx has an index and overview of all Windows Server 2003 articles and is an invaluable resource that any systems administrator can utilize. Enjoy your Windows Server and be careful – it can get hairy out there!
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i really want to know more about windows server 2003.
After I setup my Windows Server 2003, I am failig to log on with the domain server that I have just created. Can somebody tell me how to link other computers (with Win XP and Vista) to my server
Hi folks,
I appreciate the effort, but the title is “Windows Server 2003 Setup Guide” and I was hoping for some setup information – not a buyers guide.
Thanks ,
— Deck
This was not a bad beginner’s article. In fact, it is the first one that explained the domain name in AD setup. I was really confused by this initially. There was nothing saying you could have yourcompanydomain.com or yourcompany.local and what the differences were. It REALLY pissed me off when the books would all say (Use Appropriate Server Info) for that section. How was I supposed to know what was appropriate on my first install. You might want to even expand that a little. You should do a follow on or expansion for the DHCP, DNS, and WINS as well. This can be confusing as well, and in an XP or Vista environment, you would be using them.
To John’s comment – You need to add the workstation to the Domain. I am assuming you got into the server just fine. On one of the workstations, go to My Computer and right click, and then select Properties. Now click on the Computer Name tab. Near the bottom right of the window select change. At the top will be the comnputer name, and at the bottom will be Workgroup and Domain. Change the radio button to Domain, and then enter the name of the domain you created. If you picked YourCompany.local in the setup, enter YourCompany, and select OK. You will be prompted for the domain administrator credentials. Administrator and what ever you set the server administrator password to. You will get a series of dialogue boxes you hiy ok to. After the last one, you will need to restart the workstation. When it restartes, you can use Administrator, the domain administrator password, and there will be a new drop down box. It will probably says “This Computer”. Change it to the domain you picked, and then login. You are now on the domain. If you followed the tutorial and setup user accounts, you need to add those domain users to the workstation to login as the user. The user effectively has no right at the moment to the workstation. If you setup a user named “userone”, we add them to the workstation as follows. Right click My Computer and select Manage. Select Local User and Groups. The Users folder is “LOCAL” user accounts – meaning only on that workstation. So you want to select GROUPS. You can select the level of user rights and add them to that group. generally you do not want your users above Power User, but this is dictated by the software you use, and the level of control you want the user to have. There are tons of articles on this stuff. So let’s click Power Users. In the new window, select Add, and in the white open space, start typing “userone” (this is just an example name – you might use first initial and last name such as jsmith – or – john.smith – etc — again – there are tons of articles on naming schemes for users and workstations). So in our example, we start typing “userone” – we can actually type “user” and then use the check name button to the right, and it should either find the user or give you a list. For example if we had userone, usertwo, userthree – it would find all three in the list because they all start with user. It would be waiting for you to pick which one. So pick the user, and it should appear in the white window where you were typing. Be careful if you have a local user account with the same name, it can get confused. You see people using things like John for user names. They have no place on a domain – so don’t do it. It also gives you the chance to migrate the user’s profile to their new domain account profile you are going to create the first time you login as the user. So once you have the use in, hit ok until your boxes are gone, and then logoff as the Domain Administrator. Now change the user name to the user you picked. In our example it was userone. Login with the password. The first login will take a while as it sets up the profile. You are now on the domain as a user you setup.
Deck hanzen – dude – you have to clieck the next button at the bottom of the article. In his defense – i did not see it at first either. You guys need to put space between the buttons. Keep up the good work though.
Oops – made a typo in there when I was changing a few things around. WINS for a mixed NT, 98 with XP and Vista.
beginner question.. what is the difference between windows server 2003 and r2?
after i installed windows server 2003, what should i do next?
tnx
Google it =:) as there is way to much to list on that one, but in general 03 is much the same as r2 !
I thought this tutorial for an entry level tutorial was laid out quite well. I pass this tutorial to others who are curious or have questions on a base level how a domain is set up. In my opinion this tutorial is 5\5 stars. For those who commented about the websites format and lay out; I agree about the previous-Next Page link. Whoever href’d that was in a hurry and it probably was not at focus, but it makes up for such a nit picky code eye pain by the one of a kind windows server 2003 tutorial. This gentlemen really took his time of the day to paint the bigger picture in a “for Dummies” level tutorial. If you have been working as a desktop technician pushing images to workstations, building batch scripts and been using AD users and Computers snap in with limited rights to AD and always wanted to grasp the true understanding of how your jobs network operates this tutorial teaches you how you would set it up. The rest of the gaps were clearly stated “Out Of Scope”, thus issues that go to mind such as security policy settings, and all the in’s and out’s of security options one could do would have taken way to long. A great job here was done, and if anyone has written a tutorial you know the temptation to want to deviate and go on tangents explaining things more in depth while at the same time getting further off track of the focus of the tutorials direction. He kept great control here with that, and this tutorial litterally brought it together for me. My mind goes crazy on what I want to do at work with this information in mind. Most of us who work desktop support jobs have what it takes to engineer a domain, and could code in share point scripts to write credentials to apps, and so forth, but because were not MCSE certified we dont get to touch the DC’s. “In my case that is” . I recently took a job where “I” am the “ADMIN” over the domain for a very small business, and with freedom to do as I wish on the domain I created with only but 60 machines and users I am advancing allot. We use a cisco router here and a business line broadband modem since I am the sould systems engineer per say I am also responsible for it. So I play with subnetting and so forth in my free time, and every day is not a boring day all because of this tutorial which helped me get the job! Every day I am setting policies, locking down users machines. The boss\Owner who didnt have a domain setup and each phone agent was just taking calls, and had an independent machine with full admin rights didnt know any better. I made suggestions and told him we were going to need to domain this work environment and sold him on letting me go to Dell’s website, bought a server with a packaged lisence deal. Then I setup 3 other child servers, one as a file server, printer server, and using newer workstations with the w2k3 OS for the roles. I build scripts in c++ to do profile backups etc… my days flyyyyyyy it’s almost not even a job to me, but a do something I love and get paid type of work. This tutorial being primarily text based versus youtube video’s really put the confidence in me enough to present the benefits to the owner to make him buy a $3k server package. It was all worth it to him once I setup policies that allowed him to stealthly RDC into his employee’s workstations and see what they are doing when he wanted. I am doing research on Magic Jack type phone setups to save the token phone setup he is paying out the nose for on a monthly basis. My ideal is to have a very cost efficient call system in which phone calls can be recorded and monitored and even be remotely monitored real time to kind of do some call quality. All of these measures are being coerced by the knowledge I have and how it can save money and make business operations more efficient ALL THANKS TO GOOD LAID OUT TUTORIALS LIKE THIS ONE!!! It’s only until now that I wrote a comment on this tutorial I should have done so when I first read it.
I can’t see the link for the next page of the tutorial. Where is it?
Guide is excellent however please correct the images. They are currently broken due to a script error.
Any chance you could fix the images and also expand on roaming profiles?
Thanks
Cant say much for this posting its of little or no use to anyone setting up sever 2003 like my dad used to tell me if you dount know what ur talking about just shut up and listen to some one thats done it instead of waisting every ones time good intensions are like ass holes everyones got one
Bla Bla Bla why don’t you suck my dick???