Longhorn Server DcPromo Part 1
So I havent been blogging in a while but I have been really busy (as we all are) behind the covers. I was speaking the the Senior PM of Longhorn Server and asked him if I could post some of the cool features our next server product code named “Longhorn server”.
The most important part being all the Active Directory changes and where better to start than Longhorn server.
So we started with – Start > Run > “Dcpromo”
And we have the first screen! There is one big difference and that’s the check box for DcPromo in Advanced mode (DcPromo /Adv still works too).
As we move along in advanced mode the screen shot shows us a different screen:
1. Existing Forest:
a. Add a domain controller to an existing forest (I will go into this in Part 2)
b. New Domain
i. New Domain tree
2. New Forest – we will go through this option
Same screen as before and add the FQDN of your new forest (and in the backend we do a check for the NetBIOS name, if there is a conflict we add a numeric value to the end of the NetBIOS name you entered.
Now a different screen you can choose your forest functional level from DcPromo which is what I really like, you have three different forest levels to choose from (note the text in the description textbox):
1. Windows 2000 -
2. Windows 2003
3. Longhorn Server
I chose Longhorn Server (as we will be looking at a pure LH Server network in the up and coming blog posts)
Now the really cool part, i remember in my wonderful days as a MVP sitting at redmond with all the DS MVPs and complaining about the faults in the current DcPromo and what we needed the following screen shot show how community feedback gets into the final product. I remember Dean Wells having a heated discssion with help from the other MVPs as to why you should have an option to set the Global Catalog flag on the DcPromo wizard and how it should be on by default along with DNS, the next screen shot shows this :) (Also note the text in the description textbox).
The next few screen shots should look familiar 1. Setting your DB, log and SYSVol folder locations 2. Setting the Disaster Recovery Restore Mode password, 3 the final summary (I think there should be an option to store this as a report {Let me know via comments if you guys agree}) and 3 the final “Building your Forest screen”.
All in all the process of creating a new forest was as easy as 1 –8 :) stay tuned for part 2 where we will add DC’s to the environment and new trees to the domain, there are some interesting screens ;)
Just remember these screen shots and the features CAN change before the product is actually release ;)
Carlos Magalhaes