There are times where you may need a domain controller (DC) handy, whether it be for a demo or to isolate your development test environment. With the forthcoming release of Windows Server 2008 you have a new lightweight option to get a domain controller running using the Core installation. If you want to build your own DC using the Core installation of Windows Server 2008 here are the steps:
- Install Windows Server 2008 Core from the installation media
- Change your computer name to an easy-to-remember name
- NetDom RenameComputer %ComputerName% /NewName:DC
- Reboot your server to allow the name change to take effect
- Determine the identifier of your network interface
- NetSh Interface IPv4 Show Interfaces
- Assign a static IP address to your network interface and set the DNS server to the local machine
- NetSh Interface IPv4 Set Address Name="2" Source=Static Address=10.0.0.10 Mask=255.255.255.0 Gateway=10.0.0.1
- Add the Active Directory Domain Services role
- DCPromo /InstallDNS:Yes /DNSOnNetwork:No
/NewDomain:Forest /ForestLevel:3 /ReplicaOrNewDomain:Domain
/NewDomainDNSName:"contoso.local" /DomainNetBIOSName:"CONTOSO"
/Password:"p@ssw0rd"/SafeModeAdminPassword:"p@ssw0rd"
- If you are connected to another network and want to be able to resolve external addresses configure your DNS Server's forwarders
- DNSCmd /ResetFowarders 10.0.0.1
With your new domain controller up and running you can now have machines join the domain and manage the objects using the directory services command line tools.