Whenever I have the chance to learn new Microsoft stuff, I always use Virtualization to minimize the use of hardware and to maximize the capabilites of my machine. For now, I want to experience the Hyper-V feature of Windows Server 2008. In order for me to get this done I grab one of my XW4600 machine and downloaded a 64-bit evaluation copy of Windows Server 2008, yes 64-bit is required to install the Hyper-V feature. I also used the final release of Hyper-V.

After completing the initial task, I've created my virtual machines. Installed Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition - Core. It was a straight forward installation, on the first login you are asked to change the default password. After changing the password it will setup your desktop and you'll see only an open command prompt console. That's it no clickable icons, no start button...you need to go back to MS DOS age while working on a high tech environment.

The next thing we will do is to configure our Core Installation of Windows Server 2008 and install Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) but prior installing the said services you need to install first the Integration Services, in that case you can fully utilized the full functionality of your guest operating system.

Before we proceed with the AD DS installation process we'll check some best practices. We need to check if the naming convention is align with the other servers. Rename if needed.

hostname
netdom renamecomputer "current-name" /newname:"DesiredName"
shutdown /r /t 0

Make sure to set a static IP address for the network interface before installing AD DS. First we need to check the index number of the NIC to be used.

netsh interface ipv4 show interfaces

Then assign the static IP address on the said NIC

netsh interface ipv4 set address name="index number or NIC name" source=static address=172.10.10.10 mask=255.255.255.0 gateway=172.10.10.1

Then assign the DNS Server IP address

netsh interface ipv4 add dnsserver name="index number or NIC name" address=172.10.10.10 index=1

The IP address and DNS IP are the same because we will install DS on the Core server itself. Before running the DCPROMO command you need to start the DNS role for the server.

start /w ocsetup DNS-Server-Core-Role

Note: Due to a non-gui installation process of AD we need to create an unattended file for the automation of the AD installation. to begin with here's the sample line that you'll need to fill-up and assign the value that fits your needs.

[DCINSTALL]
InstallDNS=yes
NewDomain=Forest
NewDomainDNSName=PH-LWUG.ORG
DomainNetBiosName=PH-LWUG
SiteName=Default-First-Site-Name
ReplicaOrNewDomain=Domain
ForestLevel=2
DomainLevel=2
DatabasePath="%systemroot%\NTDS"
LogPath="%systemroot%\NTDS"
RebootOnCompletion=Yes
SYSVOLPath="%systemroot%\SYSVOL"
SafeModeAdminPassword="Start123!"

save the above details in a text file, lets call it as UNATTEND-AD.txt and save it to C:\TEMP. We are now ready to execute the DCPROMO command.

dcpromo /unattend:C:\TEMP\Unattend-AD.txt

After the AD installation is completed it will reboot and you have already a working ADDS Core Install Windows Server 2008.

Next steps are to enable the Remote Connection and Auto-Update capabilities.

Remote Desktop for Remote Administration
cscript C:\Windows\System32\Scregedit.wsf /ar 0

Disable the Firewall to be able to connect to the server from remote.
netsh firewall set opmode disable

Change Time Settings and Time Zone
control timedate.cpl

Enable Auto-Updates to update the server.
cscript c:\windows\system32\scregedit.wsf /au 4 (enabled)
cscript c:\windows\system32\scregedit.wsf /au 1 (disable)

We're done. Hope you like it...
More to come as we progress....