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11.20.00
Last week I showed you how to go through the Active Directory wizard to create a domain controller on a Windows 2000 network server. In today's NetworkNewz, I will show you how to verify that the Active directory was installed correctly and that all your resource records were set up properly.

As always, if you have any articles or stories that you would like to share, send them to me and I will include them in an issue of NetworkNewz.

Patrick Stoddard
NetworkNewz Editor

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The Active Directory (AD) Wizard will perform several verifications before AD will install on your server. These verifications are there to provide the integrity of the installation. AD will validate that the parameters you have specified during the installation process. How the installation is verified will depend on whether the domain controller being installed is the first in your network, or an additional domain controller for an existing network.


Before you can even begin the installation process, there are several User-interface parameters that must be verified.

  • The user that is attempting to promote the member server to a domain controller must be logged on as a member of the local Administrators group.
  • The wizard will verify that the operating system on your computer is a Windows 2000 Server.
  • A previous installation or removal of AD has not taken place without restarting the computer.
  • An installation or removal of AD is not currently in progress.

After these verifications are completed successfully, the AD Installation wizard will perform the remaining verifications. However, if any of these four verifications fail, an error message will be displayed and the wizard will close down.


When you are adding a new domain controller to an existing domain, a verification is made to ensure that the server name does not exist in the Servers container in the site to which the domain controller is being added. If the server name does exist, the wizard deletes the existing object and assumes that a reinstallation is being performed.


Before you begin your AD installation, TCP/IP should be installed on the computer that you're going to promote. If it is not installed, or if your computer is set to use the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service and a DHCP-assigned address is not available, the installation is interrupted. You are then prompted to go back and make sure that your computer is obtaining an IP address.

Along with making sure that TCP/IP is installed on your computer the wizard will verify that the server DNS resolver configuration is working properly. The DNS resolver is used to locate servers and services on your network, so a properly configured DNS resolver is a critical component for the successful installation of AD.

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As I stated last week, when you are creating a domain, you must provide a DNS name for the domain you are going to create. At this point in the verification, the AD Installation Wizard will check to see if the name you provided is unique in the forest, and if the name is not unique, you will be prompted to correct the information.

After you have provided a unique DNS name, the wizard will ask for you to provide a NetBIOS name so that your newly created domain controller can communicate with pre-Windows 2000 computers. Your NetBIOS name is taken from the first 15 characters of the leftmost label in the DNS domain name. If your NetBIOS name is not unique in the network you are prompted to provide another, unique name.


Since the creation of a new domain controller for your network is a security-sensitive task, the AD Wizard will verify that the user performing the installation has the correct permissions to complete the installation. If the user currently logged on doesn't have the proper permissions to perform the installation, they are prompted to provide a user account that has these permissions. The only exception to this rule is if a new forest is being created with this installation; at this point no verification is performed, and no specific credentials are needed to complete the installation.


During the installation of the AD database the locations for the files, log files and the SYSVOL folder are specified. If you are installing a second domain controller on your network the contents of the SYSVOL folder are replicated from another domain controller. Since the creation of the SYSVOL folder requires a volume formatted with the NTFS file system, if it is detected that an NTFS volume is not present, or if there is not sufficient free disk space, the installation will not proceed.


In this Part I of the PC to Mac "how to", we are going to look at how you can use software on your PC to allow it to network essentially as if it were a Mac. In addition, in Step 1, we will review installing the hardware on a typical Mac. We'll use a Mac LC475. You'll use a similar installation process for other Macs, but the LC series uses a unique slot called the LC PDS (for processor direct slot). Other Macs will use a CommSlot (communications slot), PCI slots, a NuBus slot (on older Macs, that may not be worth installing on a network because of other hardware limits...memory, hard drive, etc). Also, as you probably know if you own one, most new Macs, including G3s and the iMac, come with ethernet built-in, either with 10/100Mbps or 10Mbps speed available.
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The purpose of this document is to give an overview of the networking capabilities of the Linux operating system. Although one of the strengths of Linux is that plenty of information exists for nearly every component of it, most of this information is focused on implementation. New Linux users, particularly those coming from a Windows environment, are often unaware of the networking possibilities of Linux. This document aims to show a general picture of such possibilities with a brief description of each one and pointers for further information. The information has been gathered from many sources: HOWTOs, FAQs, projects' web pages and my own hands-on experience. Full credit is given to the authors of these other sources. Without them and their programs this document would have not been possible or necessary.
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This site provides a collection of pointers to free tools and services for UNIX systems, and supporting information resources. You can also find software, toolkits and documentation that will help you in keeping your network running smoothly.
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