Which domain controller should I use?

RavinDJ

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Apr 9, 2002
Messages
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Which domain controller should I use?

Server 2008 has a bunch of new things I haven't seen in 2003 before.

It's asking what domain controller do I want to install:

2000
2003
2003R2
2008
2008R2

I'm going to have mostly Win7 machines connecting to it, but also a couple of XP and 1 Vista (ugh)...

EDIT:

It's actually a FOREST FUNCATIONAL LEVEL...
I'm reading up on it on MSDN and I think that so long as I don't need to add another DC that's earlier than 2008R2, I should be fine... it's not a matter of which machines connect to it, but rather what domain controllers are working with it. Someone correct me if I'm wrong?
 
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I'd lean towards 08r2. Simply because..it's what's current.
Granted I'm a lot more comfy with 03....sometimes 08 is too..wizardy and lotsa other things I don't like..but, hey..03 is gone, passee, gotta just get going with what's current.
 
If you are using mostly Windows 7, use 2008 R2. R2 added all the Windows 7 code to make it compatible. Not saying Windows 7 will not work with 2008 or 2003, just 2008 R2 will save you some headaches of compatibility issues.
 
Damn... I love you guys!! Thanks for such quick responses... what are you guys up to? Work? I appreciate your time with me here :)
 
Also, if the server has 2 NICs, should I plug them both in?

Would this be recommended?

NIC 1
192.168.10.10
255.255.255.0
192.168.10.100

NIC 2
192.168.10.11
255.255.255.0
192.168.10.100

I'm getting a warning about "multiple gatways" which I'm not using, since my only gateway is the .100
 
.. what are you guys up to? Work? I appreciate your time with me here :)

Yeah at the office prepping some quotes...got 2x server migrations for 2x diff clients coming up soon, a WAN redesign (takeover from prior IT support guys :) ) a NOD32 renewal done remotely ,doing some laptop quotes for another client....and about to go do an onsite at a heating/air conditioning client.
 
We currently run Windows 2003 R2 and very soon be upgrading to Windows 2008 R2. Buy anyway, go ahead and use 2008 R2 just because it's the most current.
 
If they're Intel GigaBit NICs, couldn't I eventually combine them for 2Gbps of throughput (minus overhead and minus load balancing)?

Just team them to begin with, what type server is this? HP you just do it through the smart start. Then you're only using 1 IP.
 
If they're Intel GigaBit NICs, couldn't I eventually combine them for 2Gbps of throughput (minus overhead and minus load balancing)?

when you team the NICs, it will create a new network adapter in Windows Network Connections, and it will only have 1 IP.

So absolutely no need to manually configure the IP on each adapter.

and I'm with YeOlde and Lazy. Go with 2008R2 for the reasons they stated. It's the latest and greatest, and I believe it provides more group policy settings that are only available in WIn7.
 
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/datacenter/?p=308

I'd recommend using the 2003 functional level for now unless you want one of the features only offered in 08. It's one of those "only if you have to but it doesn't really matter" type of things. Upping the functionality level takes a few mouse clicks later on, if you so desire.... but you can't go back down.
 
2003 is very stable - I recently switched over to 2008. I did the full trail, from 2008 to 2008R2. 2008R2 kick's 2008's ass, but it does consume resources more then 2003.

Besides that I cannot really complain about 2008R2, it has been on my network for months and really does not give that much problems. Only problem I keep having is when I need to shut it down for something, then rebooting it - "Please wait for the Group Policy Client" and wait for 30 minutes.. trying to track that bug down.
 
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