Upon reboot, youll see a screen that shows the progress of the setup process and an estimate of the time remaining to complete setup. Dont worry if the time−to−completion information sits at a particular number of minutes for longer than a minute. This is only an estimate and is subject to the vagaries of CPU power, amount of RAM memory, and disk drive performance. If the squares at the bottom right of the screen light up in rotation, all should be okay. You can also watch for disk drive action to ensure that nothing has gone amiss. At some point in this process, hardware device detection and driver installation begins. As you watch the little progress gauge at the bottom left of the screen turn greener and greener, youre participating in one of the little miracles of the twenty−first century. Windows 2003s device detection code finds all relevant hardware deviceskeyboards, mouse devices, display adapters, network adapters, USB−connected devices, and so onand installs drivers for them from the vast array of files cached on the CD. If the right driver isnt present, youre given the chance to load it from alternative media. If you dont have the driver, installation can sometimes continue. Just follow Windows 2003s lead.
When device installation has completed, Setup brings up a wizard to guide you through the next phase of Windows Server 2003 installation. The wizard looks a lot like the installation wizards that come with a range of products designed for the Windows operating system. It leads you through the selection of a number of important options for installation, the installation of Windows 2003 networking, and a bunch of other housekeeping chores.
The sections that follow guide you through the various phases of Windows Server 2003 installation. Theyre keyed to the title of each installation wizard screen; click Next on the wizard to move on to the next phase of installation.
Regional and Language Options
The next step in the installation process involves selecting appropriate regional settings. These include the standards, formats, locale settings, and text−input language settings (Windows 2003 can handle multiple languages). These settings support various number, currency, time, date, and keyboard layouts.
Generally, the default settings work fine if youre in the United States or if youre using a CD with a localized version of Windows 2003.
Personalizing Your Organization
If youve ever installed a Windows product before, youve filled in this screen. Enter your name (or whatever name your organization wants in the name field). Enter whatever is appropriate in the Organization field, or leave it blank. Here youre just entering identifying information. This information is often used in installing other software, such as Microsoft Office. It has nothing to do with how your computer or domain will be named.
Your Product Key
Next, the wizard requests the Product Key for your installation of Windows 2003. This is a long
alphanumeric code that comes with your Windows 2003 CD. You cant install the product without a valid key.
Licensing Modes
Select the licensing type that youve paid for, per server or per seat, and enter any required values. Heed the wizards warning to use the License Manager in the Administrative Tools program group to set the number of client licenses purchased after your Windows Server 2003 is up and running. If you dont, users and other systems wont be able to connect to the server.
Computer Name and Administrator Password
The wizard next asks you to name your Windows 2003 server and suggests a name. If you like the name, fine. If not, change it. If youll be running Exchange 2003 on this server, the name should follow the Exchange Server naming scheme that you developed based on discussions in Chapter 5. If this server wont be running Exchange, use whatever naming scheme youve chosen for non−Exchange servers.
Im naming my first server BG01. Following my own advice, this server wont run Exchange 2003; itll be a domain controller running Active Directory, DHCP, and DNS. Thats more than enough for one server. The name can be up to 63 characters long. If this computer will interact with nonWindows 2000/ 2003 clients, the name should be 15 characters or less in length.
Youre also asked for a password for the Administrator account on this server. Enter the password and confirm the password by reentering it. Passwords can be up to 14 characters long. Use a password that isnt easy to crack. Mix uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers.
Date and Time Settings
Use this page of the wizard to enter date, time, and time zone settings.
Network Settings
Windows Server 2003 is nothing without networking. Next, the Setup program installs some networking software and checks to see if you have one or more supported network adapters in your computer. A
supported adapter is one that was found during device recognition and for which a driver was installed during device recognition. If Setup finds no supported network adapters, it moves on to the next steps in the
installation process. You can install network adapters and drivers any time after installation has completed.
Note I assume in this section that you followed the advice I gave earlier in this chapter and installed only your LAN adapter. And that you will install a WAN adapter, if you need one, after installing Windows 2003.
If the network adapter you installed was recognized as supported during the device detection phase, the installation wizard opens again and takes you into the network installation portion of the Setup process. Youre asked if you want typical or custom settings.
Select the custom settings option if youre installing the first domain controller in your domain.
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Select the typical settings option if youve already set up a domain controller and Dynamic DNS, as I recommend later in this chapter, and are installing a stand−alone server for Exchange 2003.
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Custom settings let you put in IP address, DNS, and other information. You have to do this for at least the first DHCP server on your network. Typical settings assume that a DHCP server is already on your network and that you want the server youre installing to use the DHCP server to get IP address, DNS, and other
information.
If you select typical settings, click Next and you are taken to the Workgroup or Domain page of the Windows Server 2003 installation wizard. For information on how to use this page, go to the next section, Workgroup or Domain Computer.
After you choose custom settings and click Next, the wizard shows you the Networking Components page. You can use this page to install additional networking components such as the NetBEUI or IPX/SPX
networking protocols. If you need to install other networking components, click Install. You can also use this page to modify settings for existing components.
Unless you have a good reason for doing otherwise, leave all settings but Internet Protocol (TCP/ IP) at their default levels. Click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and choose Properties. You can use the Internet Protocols (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box that pops up to set an IP address, address mask, gateway router, and DNS servers for your new server.
For the LAN adapter, assign an IP address. You can use any address range, but its best to use addresses reserved for internal use, such as the 192.168.0.x range, say 192.168.0.102. The networking mask for this address range is 255.255.255.0. Enter this computers IP address in the DNS field. Were building a Windows 2003 network that uses DNS to identify other Windows servers. So, you dont need to install WINS if youre not installing into a larger network where WINS is already being used. If youre doing that and this server is to be a domain controller, then you should install WINS server on this server. If you dont want to install WINS on your domain controller or this is to be a stand−alone server supporting Exchange 2003, point this computer to your WINS servers. To set WINS addresses, click Advanced on the Internet Protocols (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box.
Workgroup or Domain Computer
Next, the Setup Wizard shows you a page where you can specify the domain status of your new server. If youre installing the first domain controller in your domain, ensure that the first option (No, This Computer Is Not on a Network) is selected. After installation, youll convert this computer to a domain controller. You can leave the workgroup name as is; youll be able to change it later.
If youre installing a stand−alone server, select the option Yes, Make This Computer a Member of the Following Domain. Then, enter the preWindows 2003 name of your domain. My domain is called
BGERBER. When you click Next, the Join Computer to Domain dialog box pops up and requests a username and password. Enter the name of an account that belongs to the Domain Admins group (for example,
Administrator) and that accounts password. There will be a little pause while your new server uses DHCP to obtain an IP address from your domain controller and then requests that it be allowed to join the domain. When all this is done, your new server will have been assigned the IP address that you reserved for it and will be a full−fledged member of the domain. You should find its name in the Computers container of the Active Directory Computers and Users snap−in in your Microsoft Management Console.
After you finish with this step, the Setup program copies more files from the Windows 2003 CD and performs a variety of installation and setup tasks. During this process, Setup shows you how much longer it estimates it will take to complete its work.
Installation, and Up and Running at Last
At this point, Setup copies the files needed for your installation from the CD−ROM to your servers hard disk. Then it installs the Start menu for your server, registers installed components, saves settings, and removes temporary files created during the install. Finally, Setup lets you know that the installation was successful and invites you to click Finish. The server reboots and, lo and behold, your Windows 2003 server is up and running. Press the familiar Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys, and log in as Administrator.
After a bit of churning, youll see the Windows 2003 Manage Your Server Wizard. Well be using the wizard in a bit, but first you can go ahead and do some manual cleanup. You can fiddle with your display adapters video resolution, if necessary, and do any other housekeeping chores that you want. To modify display adapter resolution, right−click the desktop and choose Properties > Settings. If you have to reboot, the Manage Your Server Wizard will open on startup.
At last, you get your reward. It might seem anticlimactic, however. All that work and what do you get? The Microsoft Windows XP desktop, thats what! Heck, youve probably seen that a hundred times. No bells? No whistles? No dancing bears? Nothingjust plain−vanilla Windows XP front− ending one of the most powerful, multitasking, multithreaded operating systems in the world. Enjoy!
Warning You have to activate your installation of Windows Server 2003. If you dont, after 15 days you wont be able to use it. Activation registers with Microsoft the Product Code you entered when you installed Windows 2003. Youre allowed to install the product a limited number of times. When you exceed the limit, you have to either buy another license (product code) or explain to Microsoft why you should be able to install more copies. Its easy to activate Windows 2003. Just click the Activation icon on the right side of the Taskbar, which is located by default on the bottom of your screen. You can activate Windows 2003 over the Internet or by telephone.