Creating a simple network consisting a server and 15 computers

[vin447]

Sorry to bother you all on this holiday season, but unfortunately i have to create a network connection in my office. I've got a server computer running on windows server 2012 datacenter edition and about 15 computers running on windows 7 and xp. I am still new to this networking stuff, so please help me. My first question is how to connect these computers with the server computer? I missed most of the basics, so i still don't understand with the networking terms. Anyways, thank you for your attention.

(i connect these computers with a LAN cable, and also i am unfamiliar with tcp/ip network configuration)

 

[Adrian Ocampo]

Sorry to bother you all on this holiday season, but unfortunately i have to create a network connection in my office. I've got a server computer running on windows server 2012 datacenter edition and about 15 computers running on windows 7 and xp. I am still new to this networking stuff, so please help me. My first question is how to connect these computers with the server computer? I missed most of the basics, so i still don't understand with the networking terms. Anyways, thank you for your attention.

First you need to have a switch, read up on switches. there are diffrent kinds of switch, and it is quite costly. 😀

 

[vin447]

First you need to have a switch, read up on switches. there are diffrent kinds of switch, and it is quite costly. 😀

Hello adrian, thanks for answering my question. I think i'll buy the switches later, since the shops are not yet open now. What if i connect just one computer first to the server? Can you guide me? Thanks.

 

[Adrian Ocampo]

First you need to have a switch, read up on switches. there are diffrent kinds of switch, and it is quite costly. 😀

Hello adrian, thanks for answering my question. I think i'll buy the switches later, since the shops are not yet open now. What if i connect just one computer first to the server? Can you guide me? Thanks.

First the Server's Lan port must be connected to the Computer 1's Lan Port, this is for it to communicate with each other. You need to use a crossover cable 😀. If you do not have a crossover cable you may opt to use a router, even a wireless router with a 4 port switch may be used. This is to connect both pc in a network. You may want to read up on Ip Addressess, Subnets, and DHCP

 

[mbreslin1954]

Actually, gigabit network switches don't cost very much. Depending on how many ports you need on a switch, they run from $20 to over $120. A network switch just connects networked devices together, you will also need a router if any of your computers need to get out of the building to the public Internet.

Just buy a 16-port gigabit network switch at Best Buy or from Amazon or Newegg and connect your server and your 15 client PCs into that switch to start.

The first thing you need to know about Microsoft Servers is that for any client computer or workstation to access the server for such services as using shared printers, files, or anything else from the server, they have to be the Business or Pro version of the Windows operating system. So your workstations need to be running Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate and Windows XP Professional. You can actually share things out to PCs running the "Home" version of the Windows operating systems, but the key thing you lose is the global directory. That's the ability to have the Server manage userids, which is what the Domain does (you need to read up on Microsoft server and domains). That way users at the workstations log onto the domain when they log onto a client PC, and the client PC goes to the server over the network and send the userid and password used to log on to the server, and the server authenticates the user according to its master user accounts database.

If you don't have Pro operating systems on the client (user) PCs, then those PCs cannot participate in a Microsoft domain and they cannot use the server-based global user accounts database, they are using their own, local user accounts. This means that you have to create users on the server, give them passwords, then give those userids access to different parts of the server (files, shared disks, printers, etc.). Then you have to duplicate those same userids and those same passwords on each client PC (if you want any person to be able to log onto any client PC and access the server). The key is that YOU have to manage userids and passwords on the client PCs so that they match those userids and passwords on the server. In a proper Microsoft Domain, all domain user accounts and passwords are managed on the server.

Hope this helps.

 

[vin447]

Actually, gigabit network switches don't cost very much. Depending on how many ports you need on a switch, they run from $20 to over $120. A network switch just connects networked devices together, you will also need a router if any of your computers need to get out of the building to the public Internet.

Just buy a 16-port gigabit network switch at Best Buy or from Amazon or Newegg and connect your server and your 15 client PCs into that switch to start.

The first thing you need to know about Microsoft Servers is that for any client computer or workstation to access the server for such services as using shared printers, files, or anything else from the server, they have to be the Business or Pro version of the Windows operating system. So your workstations need to be running Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate and Windows XP Professional. You can actually share things out to PCs running the "Home" version of the Windows operating systems, but the key thing you lose is the global directory. That's the ability to have the Server manage userids, which is what the Domain does (you need to read up on Microsoft server and domains). That way users at the workstations log onto the domain when they log onto a client PC, and the client PC goes to the server over the network and send the userid and password used to log on to the server, and the server authenticates the user according to its master user accounts database.

If you don't have Pro operating systems on the client (user) PCs, then those PCs cannot participate in a Microsoft domain and they cannot use the server-based global user accounts database, they are using their own, local user accounts. This means that you have to create users on the server, give them passwords, then give those userids access to different parts of the server (files, shared disks, printers, etc.). Then you have to duplicate those same userids and those same passwords on each client PC (if you want any person to be able to log onto any client PC and access the server). The key is that YOU have to manage userids and passwords on the client PCs so that they match those userids and passwords on the server. In a proper Microsoft Domain, all domain user accounts and passwords are managed on the server.

Hope this helps.

Hello mbreslin1954, thanks for answering my question. Some of those computer haven't used the proffesional edition of windows, i'll take care of it later. One of them is currently running on windows 7 ultimate and i think i'll go experimenting with that computer first. I've connected the server and the client with a LAN cable. Then i set the ip address of the server to be 192.168.0.1. And then how should i set the ip address of the client? Should i create a custom ip address for it or should i make the computer search for the ip address automatically? Sorry for my bad english, please ask me if you are unsure with my question. Thank you for your attention.

 

[Adrian Ocampo]

Actually, gigabit network switches don't cost very much. Depending on how many ports you need on a switch, they run from $20 to over $120. A network switch just connects networked devices together, you will also need a router if any of your computers need to get out of the building to the public Internet.

Just buy a 16-port gigabit network switch at Best Buy or from Amazon or Newegg and connect your server and your 15 client PCs into that switch to start.

The first thing you need to know about Microsoft Servers is that for any client computer or workstation to access the server for such services as using shared printers, files, or anything else from the server, they have to be the Business or Pro version of the Windows operating system. So your workstations need to be running Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate and Windows XP Professional. You can actually share things out to PCs running the "Home" version of the Windows operating systems, but the key thing you lose is the global directory. That's the ability to have the Server manage userids, which is what the Domain does (you need to read up on Microsoft server and domains). That way users at the workstations log onto the domain when they log onto a client PC, and the client PC goes to the server over the network and send the userid and password used to log on to the server, and the server authenticates the user according to its master user accounts database.

If you don't have Pro operating systems on the client (user) PCs, then those PCs cannot participate in a Microsoft domain and they cannot use the server-based global user accounts database, they are using their own, local user accounts. This means that you have to create users on the server, give them passwords, then give those userids access to different parts of the server (files, shared disks, printers, etc.). Then you have to duplicate those same userids and those same passwords on each client PC (if you want any person to be able to log onto any client PC and access the server). The key is that YOU have to manage userids and passwords on the client PCs so that they match those userids and passwords on the server. In a proper Microsoft Domain, all domain user accounts and passwords are managed on the server.

Hope this helps.

Hello mbreslin1954, thanks for answering my question. Some of those computer haven't used the proffesional edition of windows, i'll take care of it later. One of them is currently running on windows 7 ultimate and i think i'll go experimenting with that computer first. I've connected the server and the client with a LAN cable. Then i set the ip address of the server to be 192.168.0.1. And then how should i set the ip address of the client? Should i create a custom ip address for it or should i make the computer search for the ip address automatically? Sorry for my bad english, please ask me if you are unsure with my question. Thank you for your attention.

Make the computer to be at 192.168.0.2. One more thing, your subnet must be the same in order for them to see each other. a not optimized subnet is 255.255.255.0 an optimized would be 255.255.255.252 for 2 computers. set them for both pc 😀

 

[vin447]

Make the computer to be at 192.168.0.2. One more thing, your subnet must be the same in order for them to see each other. a not optimized subnet is 255.255.255.0 an optimized would be 255.255.255.252 for 2 computers. set them for both pc 😀

Thanks again adrian, i've set my client computer into 192.168.0.2, and what should i do? Should i make a domain name? Thank you for your attention.

 

[Adrian Ocampo]

Make the computer to be at 192.168.0.2. One more thing, your subnet must be the same in order for them to see each other. a not optimized subnet is 255.255.255.0 an optimized would be 255.255.255.252 for 2 computers. set them for both pc 😀

Thanks again adrian, i've set my client computer into 192.168.0.2, and what should i do? Should i make a domain name? Thank you for your attention.

Yes you could already make a domain name for the client pc to logon to 😀 You need a domain controller 😀

 

[Adrian Ocampo]

Its ok, my job is a systems administrator ) Haha.

 

[vin447]

Its ok, my job is a systems administrator ) Haha.

Hahaha.. Okay then, now i know that i am relieved that you are willing to help me with your expertise. Thanks again adrian. Now i've created a domain name "rmm.coba" and the server is the domain controller. After i've created the domain name, i changed the domain of my client computer with "rmm.coba", but it failed, with the warning that the client computer can't connect to the Active Directory Domain Controller. What should i do now? Have i missed something?

 

[Adrian Ocampo]

Its ok, my job is a systems administrator ) Haha.

Hahaha.. Okay then, now i know that i am relieved that you are willing to help me with your expertise. Thanks again adrian. Now i've created a domain name "rmm.coba" and the server is the domain controller. After i've created the domain name, i changed the domain of my client computer with "rmm.coba", but it failed, with the warning that the client computer can't connect to the Active Directory Domain Controller. What should i do now? Have i missed something?

Check the firewall settings of the DC . Also create a user for the client computer.

 

[choucove]

One thing missing in the IP address settings for your computers to communicate properly is DNS. On your client computer (Windows 7) there should be an option for Primary DNS and Secondary DNS. In the Primary DNS you want to put the IP address of your domain controller. This is so your computer knows to look to your DC for name resolutions and will know that the domain is there. Your secondary DNS will be an IP address usually provided by your internet provider but if you aren't currently connected to a switched or routed network infrastructure now anyways, it won't be needed.

I really wish that before starting up immediately with a domain installation, you could take a look into creating a virtual machine to run this service on. Given the version of Windows Server 2012 that you have, it makes much more sense to create a VM for running your services than installing it directly on the physical hardware which can be very limiting down the road.

When you can, get a switch put in place. I'd suggest a nice 24-port gigabit switch as you want some room for growth, and will allow you to connect new devices as needed in the future without having to go replacing switches again. I'd also highly recommend looking into upgrading the client computers to Windows 7 Pro or Windows 8 Pro when possible to give them the ability to join to your network domain which will greatly reduce complexity and administrative work, as well as improving your management options.

 

[jeff-j]

Hello Vin447,

I was reading about your setup and would like to give you some thoughts. I would setup DHCP on the sever, but when you get ready to assign the address range, I would start with 192.168.0.100-192.168.0.254, this will keep 100 ip addresses from being assigned to any computers, and will allow you to have static addresses reserved for any future network components like network printers, or wireless access points. Once you have the DHCP server setup you should be able to plug the computer it and it will get an IP address automatically. I was also reading that some people were saying to buy a 16 port switch since you only have 15 computers, I would say buy at least a 24 port switch, this will allow you to expand your network without having to but another switch. When your tried to add the computer to the domain, did you just type in the domain name under the computer name, or did you use a wizard to join a domain?

 

[jeff-j]

Hello Vin447,

I was reading about your setup and would like to give you some thoughts. I would setup DHCP on the sever, but when you get ready to assign the address range, I would start with 192.168.0.100-192.168.0.254, this will keep 100 ip addresses from being assigned to any computers, and will allow you to have static addresses reserved for any future network components like network printers, or wireless access points. Once you have the DHCP server setup you should be able to plug the computer it and it will get an IP address automatically. I was also reading that some people were saying to buy a 16 port switch since you only have 15 computers, I would say buy at least a 24 port switch, this will allow you to expand your network without having to but another switch. When your tried to add the computer to the domain, did you just type in the domain name under the computer name, or did you use a wizard to join a domain?

 

[vin447]

Check the firewall settings of the DC . Also create a user for the client computer.

For the domain controller, is it better to turn on the firewall or just turn off the firewall? When the network setup has finished, i would like to connect it to the internet. And also for the creation of the users, i'll try it later as i am can't access the computer right now. Thanks again adrian.

 

[Adrian Ocampo]

Check the firewall settings of the DC . Also create a user for the client computer.

For the domain controller, is it better to turn on the firewall or just turn off the firewall? When the network setup has finished, i would like to connect it to the internet. And also for the creation of the users, i'll try it later as i am can't access the computer right now. Thanks again adrian.

It is best practice to have a firewall. What you could do is to implement firewall rules to allow connections from outside to the server.

 

[vin447]

One thing missing in the IP address settings for your computers to communicate properly is DNS. On your client computer (Windows 7) there should be an option for Primary DNS and Secondary DNS. In the Primary DNS you want to put the IP address of your domain controller. This is so your computer knows to look to your DC for name resolutions and will know that the domain is there. Your secondary DNS will be an IP address usually provided by your internet provider but if you aren't currently connected to a switched or routed network infrastructure now anyways, it won't be needed.

I really wish that before starting up immediately with a domain installation, you could take a look into creating a virtual machine to run this service on. Given the version of Windows Server 2012 that you have, it makes much more sense to create a VM for running your services than installing it directly on the physical hardware which can be very limiting down the road.

When you can, get a switch put in place. I'd suggest a nice 24-port gigabit switch as you want some room for growth, and will allow you to connect new devices as needed in the future without having to go replacing switches again. I'd also highly recommend looking into upgrading the client computers to Windows 7 Pro or Windows 8 Pro when possible to give them the ability to join to your network domain which will greatly reduce complexity and administrative work, as well as improving your management options.

Hello choucove, thanks for answering my question. Sorry if i ask you too much question. I am still a beginner in this field. Please correct if i am mistaken in interpreting your answer.

From the first paragraph, the primary DNS for the client computer will be the same as the ip address of the server computer. Yesterday i realized that after creating the domain name, the primary DNS of the server computer was changed into 127.0.0.1. Is it okay or should i change it?

From the second paragraph, i've read oabout hyper-v, and i don't really understand about it. What i get from my research is that the hyper v is used to create clone computers in one server computer, and users will access these clone computers from their computer, and the only computer that does the most work is only the server computer. Is my conclusion correct or not? Please correct me if i am wrong.

As for the third paragraph, i'll discuss it with my boss, as he is the one who will manage the money for buying those stuffs.

Thank you very much choucove for your attention.

 

[vin447]

Hello Vin447,

I was reading about your setup and would like to give you some thoughts. I would setup DHCP on the sever, but when you get ready to assign the address range, I would start with 192.168.0.100-192.168.0.254, this will keep 100 ip addresses from being assigned to any computers, and will allow you to have static addresses reserved for any future network components like network printers, or wireless access points. Once you have the DHCP server setup you should be able to plug the computer it and it will get an IP address automatically. I was also reading that some people were saying to buy a 16 port switch since you only have 15 computers, I would say buy at least a 24 port switch, this will allow you to expand your network without having to but another switch. When your tried to add the computer to the domain, did you just type in the domain name under the computer name, or did you use a wizard to join a domain?

Hello jeff-j, thank you for giving me suggestions regarding to this matter.

First, about the IP address configuration, i don't really understand your explanation (sorry, it was because of my bad english understanding, not because of your bad explanation. your explanation has been elaborate enough). Please correct my conclusion. My conclusion from your explanation is that it is better for me to assign the first 15 computers with the ip address ranging from 192.168.0.100 to 192.168.0.254, and then when additional client computers is added into the network, i arrange these additional client computer's ip address into dynamic one. Sorry if i misunderstand your explanation.

And then when i add domain name into the client computer, i used both ways, but unfortunately they still failed. Can you please explain to me why this happened?

Thank you very much jeff-j for your attention and suggestion.

 

[vin447]

It is best practice to have a firewall. What you could do is to implement firewall rules to allow connections from outside to the server.

Okay then adrian, i'll see those firewall options as soon as i access the server. I'll tell you about the result as soon as possible.

Thanks adrian.

 

[Adrian Ocampo]

I apologize for my DHCP explanation. DHCP needs a router for it to populate ip addresses. 😀

 

[vin447]

I apologize for my DHCP explanation. DHCP needs a router for it to populate ip addresses. 😀

It's all right adrian, i appreciate your initiative to answer my question. Thanks adrian.

 

[choucove]

Regarding DNS: When you create a domain controller on your server, it also installs the DNS role. When computers in your network want to find other computers (lets say, for example, tomshardware.com) they have to request the IP address for that name from a Domain Name Services (DNS) server. Your domain controller is now your local DNS, and will resolve computer names within your network. However, just setting up the role on your server doesn't mean your other client computers in the network know that that server is there for DNS resolution.

So, you previously stated that you set up your domain controller/DNS server with the LAN IP address of 192.168.0.1 There are two ways of having your client computers look to this computer IP address then for DNS resolution. The first is with a static IP address. In Windows while you are setting up a static IP address there are the two fields there, Primary DNS and Secondary DNS. Be sure that for Primary DNS you enter 192.168.0.1. The other option is with DHCP. Whichever device you set up DHCP on (whether it is your server or your router) be sure that it hands out 192.168.0.1 as the IP address of your primary DNS server.

On your actual domain controller/DNS server you noticed that the IP address for Primary DNS changed to 127.0.0.1 This is correct, this special address is called the loopback and is basically just telling the computer to look at itself for the DNS server.

Now about Hyper-V: Hyper-V is just the Windows implementation of a broad technology called virtualization. The idea here is that you can take the physical hardware of a server and abstract it, running multiple virtual computers on that hardware which don't care what the underlying hardware is. Think of it this way. If you wanted to create a server for each role in your network (such as one for a domain controller, one for a specific application, another for a print server, and yet another for a backup system, perhaps even another for a camera system.) Traditionally they would purchase one physical system for each of these tasks which really ate up budget as well as requiring more complexity, networking, more systems to manage, more possible failures, more power draw, etc.

With virtualization you can create each of these roles in a virtual machine and run it all on one physical server. These virtual computers are independent of one another so you can manage them individually, taking one offline without affecting the others, adjust settings or even add resources to individual virtual machines on the fly without having to completely shut down your whole system. Where virtualization really becomes handy for small businesses though is fault tolerance. Since virtual machines utilize specialized drivers and have the underlying hardware abstracted from them, it doesn't really matter what hardware they run on.

Let's just look at an example here. Let's say that you start off with your whole network, all your services, running on the physical server with a new Dell PowerEdge server. For three years you run that server, daily, installing all of your things to it, storing all of your data to it, and then suddenly one day the server refuses to power on. Luckily for you you have been creating disk image backups of your data though! But wait, if you want to just transfer those images to another computer, you have to have the exact same physical hardware as your original server, or it may very well not boot or operate properly! It's been three years, and now that server isn't available for purchase. So instead you are left to purchasing a new server and reinstalling and setting up all of your software and information from scratch.

Now, with virtualization, if that same scenario were to happen, you could simply copy the virtual machine files (the virtual hard drive for each virtual machine stores all the data of that VM) to any other computer, regardless of the hardware type, running Windows Server 2012 or Windows 8 Pro with Hyper-V, start it up, and you are up and going again with very little down time.

 

[jeff-j]

You are correct for the IP address, all the workstations will start with 192.168.0.100 and go up from there, DHCP will assign each computer on the network all the information it will need to access the network/internet such as IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS. When you create you address pool for DHCP on your server, you will also want to set the lease time for each address to about 24 hours, it might be set to eight days. Before you setup DHCP on the server, make sure you can get on the internet from the server, and that you have the correct default gateway and DNS set on its network interface.

On the computers you are trying to connect to the domain can you please enter the command prompt and type in ipconfig /all and post the output. If you are running windows 7 just type in CMD in the search box in the start menu, or type in CMD in the run box for XP.

 

[vin447]

Regarding DNS: When you create a domain controller on your server, it also installs the DNS role. When computers in your network want to find other computers (lets say, for example, tomshardware.com) they have to request the IP address for that name from a Domain Name Services (DNS) server. Your domain controller is now your local DNS, and will resolve computer names within your network. However, just setting up the role on your server doesn't mean your other client computers in the network know that that server is there for DNS resolution.

So, you previously stated that you set up your domain controller/DNS server with the LAN IP address of 192.168.0.1 There are two ways of having your client computers look to this computer IP address then for DNS resolution. The first is with a static IP address. In Windows while you are setting up a static IP address there are the two fields there, Primary DNS and Secondary DNS. Be sure that for Primary DNS you enter 192.168.0.1. The other option is with DHCP. Whichever device you set up DHCP on (whether it is your server or your router) be sure that it hands out 192.168.0.1 as the IP address of your primary DNS server.

On your actual domain controller/DNS server you noticed that the IP address for Primary DNS changed to 127.0.0.1 This is correct, this special address is called the loopback and is basically just telling the computer to look at itself for the DNS server.

Now about Hyper-V: Hyper-V is just the Windows implementation of a broad technology called virtualization. The idea here is that you can take the physical hardware of a server and abstract it, running multiple virtual computers on that hardware which don't care what the underlying hardware is. Think of it this way. If you wanted to create a server for each role in your network (such as one for a domain controller, one for a specific application, another for a print server, and yet another for a backup system, perhaps even another for a camera system.) Traditionally they would purchase one physical system for each of these tasks which really ate up budget as well as requiring more complexity, networking, more systems to manage, more possible failures, more power draw, etc.

With virtualization you can create each of these roles in a virtual machine and run it all on one physical server. These virtual computers are independent of one another so you can manage them individually, taking one offline without affecting the others, adjust settings or even add resources to individual virtual machines on the fly without having to completely shut down your whole system. Where virtualization really becomes handy for small businesses though is fault tolerance. Since virtual machines utilize specialized drivers and have the underlying hardware abstracted from them, it doesn't really matter what hardware they run on.

Let's just look at an example here. Let's say that you start off with your whole network, all your services, running on the physical server with a new Dell PowerEdge server. For three years you run that server, daily, installing all of your things to it, storing all of your data to it, and then suddenly one day the server refuses to power on. Luckily for you you have been creating disk image backups of your data though! But wait, if you want to just transfer those images to another computer, you have to have the exact same physical hardware as your original server, or it may very well not boot or operate properly! It's been three years, and now that server isn't available for purchase. So instead you are left to purchasing a new server and reinstalling and setting up all of your software and information from scratch.

Now, with virtualization, if that same scenario were to happen, you could simply copy the virtual machine files (the virtual hard drive for each virtual machine stores all the data of that VM) to any other computer, regardless of the hardware type, running Windows Server 2012 or Windows 8 Pro with Hyper-V, start it up, and you are up and going again with very little down time.

Hello again choucove, thanks for your reply.

About the DNS, i have catch the gist of it thanks to your explanation. I think it will not pose me further problem in creating this network, so i will leave the discussion about DNS here (i hope) .

Now about the Hyper-V, so the biggest advantage from implementing hyper v in my server is that i needn't have to worry too much if my server broke down all of a sudden right? I think that's a good news for me. I have installed the hyper v feature in my server, then what should i do next? Thank you for giving me more information regarding to hyper v.

Best Regards, vin447.