Domain for home

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Svetgar

Weaksauce
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Apr 17, 2008
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I am going to be replacing my Windows Home Server with Server 2012 Essentials R2. I understand that this will require me to set up a domain. And I've read a bit about what that means, but I am still unclear how it works and what it means for me. I realize that I will need Windows Pro licenses.

I think that it means I will be able to have the same logon on each computer. Does this mean that the my documents are kept on the server? Meaning if I logon onto my wifes computer whatever is in my downloads etc, will be there? What about programs and icons and stuff?

Can I use this to force updates to the computers? It is annoying to go around the house to each computer and log in as administrator to update Java, antivirus, MBAM, etc.

Also, are there any unexpected problems or situations that I should be looking for that I am too ignorant to know about?

Thanks in advance.
 
Well a domain can open the door to doing all of these things like roaming profiles, folder redirection, Windows Update Server etc. All of this is achieved through Active Directory Group Policy and by smartly placing AD objects into OU's and applying those policies.

None of that will properly take care of 3rd party non-ms updates though.

You are opening a can of worms. :D
 
You do not "need" to create a domain at all with any version of windows server.

if you do create a domain as schizrade noted, you can creat folder redirections / roaming profiles which would let you get everything on each computer.

you can also install WSUS role into the server and set a GPO to control updates as well, it is very easy really once you do it once or twice.

Now saving all your files on 1 location, you need to make sure you have backups as well.
 
folder redirection and Windows Update Server don't require a domain and can be done on home versions and home versions can access data on a 2012r2 essentials server.
roaming profiles needs a domain.
 
It's a great way to learn, just understand that if you go joining your home PC's to a domain you may end up chasing a lot of problems you're going to have to really research to fix if you goof anything up.
 
I have a 24/7 Win2k8 R2 server on my home network but didn't bother setting up a domain. I've managed Windows domains for a number of small companies and just don't see much advantage in this environment. If there were more machines, more people (a family, say) and I needed to implement centralized security (keep the kids out of Mom & Dad's files) then it might be worth the effort.

I've found that using Dropbox for sharing smaller files like spreadsheets and documents between computers works really well. Actually, it's better than keeping them on a centralized file server, since you don't become dependent on that server being up and running. I can shut down my server (which mostly stores media files like music, movies and TV shows) and still access any of my personal files. A simple trick that makes this even easier is to redirect My Documents to the Dropbox folder.
 
If you set up a domain, make sure you have a 2nd one incase the first one fails and then your scrwed getting into any of your computers. you can run a Domain VM with 1 core and 1Gig of ram and about 60G of disk space and windows server licenses allow you to run 2 VM's with the license.
 
Svetgar said:
I am going to be replacing my Windows Home Server with Server 2012 Essentials R2. I understand that this will require me to set up a domain. And I've read a bit about what that means, but I am still unclear how it works and what it means for me. I realize that I will need Windows Pro licenses.
Click to expand...

It's dead simple. I have this setup. WSE is mainly used for running WSUS and backing up the local PCs. By default, data stays local, but you can change that with Group Policies.

There's no need to have a second DC as if the domain fails, you can use either cached domain credentials or log in to the local PC rather than the domain. And it's foolish in the extreme to run your second DC on the same box as the WSE.
 
I did it before, it was neat, but I found it ended up being more work given my environment is mostly Linux anyway. If you want to learn best bet is doing it in a lab setting where you can break stuff and not be down while you're trying to fix it.
 
If you are this green coming into a domain, I don't know if I would recommend it. There are some amazing pluses for it. For me, it was GPO to change logon screen colors, product first run disabled, and setting a lot of convenience features on a global level. I do have multiple machines I use so, double handy. I am going to be re-rolling my domain as I did a lot of things and broke a lot of things, but this is how we learn:)

Mine also handled DNS and DHCP.
 
Are all of your workstations Professional Edition or higher? Home editions of Windows can't be added to a domain, so that might answer your question real quick.
 
He outlined buying those licenses in the first post so I would say he is aware.
 
OK so I've got the win 7 pro licenses. I have 6 computers at my house including 1 for each of the 3 kids. I'm going to proceed with setting up the domain. Worst thing that happens is I have to redo everything, and I will just keep WHSv1 running until I'm sure that the new server is good to go.

I think this will accomplish my security goals. There are folders I don't want the kids getting to and ones that I want them to have read access only (like photos).

OK so I can't force 3rd party updates. Will I be able to connect via remote desktop to their systems and run those updates and such? Just not having to get up from my desk will be nice and make maintaining the systems so much nicer.
 
Absolutely!, You can even create a GPO to automatically enable Remote Desktop and add your username to the allowed users, automating that setup and config.
 
Svetgar said:
OK so I can't force 3rd party updates. Will I be able to connect via remote desktop to their systems and run those updates and such?
Click to expand...

You can run WSUS on WSE - I do - and automate updates for Windows, Office, et al.
 
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