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Hello,

I am going to have a gigantic exam next week and I feel I am not quite ready for it. But I have to say that I am to blame myself: I haven't spent these two years the way I should have. Or rather, I have been too busy with Support that I "forgot" to do study.

Let me explain in more detail what this is about.
In Norway you can choose what type of education you want to have: either "go to school" or "go to work".

"go to school" means that you are going to a normal "theory based" school where you study Math, Norwegian, English, History and etc.

"go to work" means that you are going on a "practical based" school where you study topics related to the job you wish to work with.

In my case, I chose "go to work" in ICT (Information and Communications Thecnology) which is computer related. So two years ago I started to work, it was fun: I could sit at a computer home and at work 24/7.
But eventually it became very boring (which it still is, and which caused my little drop out that you all probably didn't noticed, except those who know of the POPR Project).
But this is not the point.

After two years of "go to work" you have an exam that lasts for a week. This exam is based on what you have learned and also based on what kind of applications/OS's the company you work at use.

Basically the company I work at (which is a school in case you were all wondering. yes.. I am THAT cool sometimes) use Windows Server 2003 as the server operating system, and Windows XP as the client operating system.

Now, Windows XP I know in and out as I have been using that since 2001 -but Server 2003 I know nothing of at all!

I am afraid there is no talking out of this; I HAVE to learn how to install the OS, setup DHCP, Active Directory/Domain Controller, DNS, and all that stuff.

Fortunately for me my boss have an account at books24x7.com which have a database of over 10'000 books related to ICT.

In this exam I have found out that I am able to use any referrence I know of as long as I do everything myself. This means that I can call Bill Gates and ask him in detail how I should setup the server.. and that was a joke, but you get the idea.

So I am going to use the books24x7 database to my advantage

Now I am wondering what kind of books I should look at?

The exam starts on the 6th of August, which is in 5 days, and ends on August the 10th.

So with all this explanation out of the way, I will ask my questiong:

Do you know of a good book related to Windows Server 2003 and how to setup its modules?

I have searched the database but I found out that the search function is not very good unless you know the title of the book.

I am going to bring a PC and two laptops which will be used as server and clients, and bring them home to my place, where I can practise over the weekend. But I need some referrence to look at because I have NO Idea how to use Server 2003.

Yea, long post but I think I got my message through.

Wish me luck

There is a great website that has tutorials on technical aspects of windows installation and administration - it would probably prepare you pretty damn well for this exam - will see if I can find it...

Here we go, Petri...

http://www.petri.co.il/

We use this at work a lot, for an IT department with no training it's an absolute god send, should give you straightforward insight into this stuff.

Sounds perfect, let me know when or if you find it.

edit,
sorry, I was typing too slow.

Thanks

Hi again,

I couldn't find anything regarding the installation of DHCP on petri.co.il but I have found some articles on books24x7.com.

I know DHCP is used to assign IP adresses to the connected clients but somehow after installing it, it does not.

I think maybe this have to do with me using a switch.
so do I need a router, or does it not matter which means my server isn't working properly?

Edit,
btw thanks to Petri I now know how to install and setup DNS/Active Directory. It was easier than I thought. But I still cannot test it properly until I get clients connected through DHCP. or am I mistaken?

I would like to test out logon scripts, users, groups and stuff in AD. (I know how to use AD but I have never installed it before).

I think you'll need to set up accounts in AD first, then use another machine to connect and test it. You'll need to add the accounts to the second machine, and youll need to set the second machine to connect to the domain, iirc.

Actually before I left yesterday I turned the server off.
When I got back today and I turned it on, I made some small modifications and now the DHCP works.

a graphical view of what I think I have to learn and what I have learned allready:

Active Directory / Domain Controller
DNS
DHCP
Backup stuff
Users and Groups / permissions
Printer Server
The two clients must not be able to see eachother (I'm thinking maybe I should setup vlans?)
probably more that I don't know of yet

edit,
I have learned more from Petri.co.il in one day than I have in real work life these two years :S

I asked around and we don't have any switches that support VLan :/
I need to setup a server with two network cards and two "normal" switches. This is the only other solution I know of.

However I am not so sure how the DHCP will handle this.

Also I need to re-install the server os and setup everything again because the server I used was a "desktop" and not a "tower", meaning our networks card were too big for the desktop computer.

Well, this is extra training, which I will need.


Any thoughs about setting up a server with two network cards?
will I have to install AD/DNS/DHCP on each of the network cards?