Tag: Active Directory

Adding a Secondary Active Directory Domain Controller on Windows Server 2016

After setting up an Active Directory (AD) on our Windows Server it is advisable to have another server to be a Secondary Active Directory Domain Controller to become the failover for Active Directory in case something happens to the first AD Server.

Below is a detailed tutorial on how to properly set up a Secondary Active Directory Domain Controller on Windows Server 2016.

Note

Primary refers to the first Windows Server that we setup Active Directory with.

Secondary refers to the the Second Windows Server we will set Active Directory. This is what we will setup here.

Here are the major steps that we need to do

Setup

Testing

Setup

Primary: Get the IP Address of the Primary Active Directory Domain Controller

Login to your Primary Active Directory Windows Server.

Right-click on the Window Icon on the bottom-left of the screen. Then click Command Prompt.

On the command prompt window type ipconfig then Enter.

Note the IPv4 Address. You will need this later on the Secondary Windows Server. Continue reading Adding a Secondary Active Directory Domain Controller on Windows Server 2016

Change Password for Active Directory Administrator on Windows Server 2016

The very first thing I do after installing Active Directory (AD) on Windows Server is to change the password of my AD Administrator. I do this because I use Amazon Web Services (AWS) EC2 as my servers and AWS automatically generates the password for my Windows Server.

The AD Administrator is a very powerful user for Active Directory as you can restrict or open capabilities to other users and computer, install/uninstall programs and can even shut down any member computer using the Admin user. That is why you should really keep your AD Administrator User password in a safe place.

Whatever the reason you have for wanting to change the password of your AD Administrator below is a step-by-step tutorial on how to change it.

Login to your Windows Server.

Click on the Window Icon on the bottom-left and click on Server Manager.

Click on Tools then Active Directory Users and Computers.

Click on the ‘>‘ sign beside your domain on the left sidebar. This will expand the tree. Continue reading Change Password for Active Directory Administrator on Windows Server 2016

Configure Active Directory on Windows Server 2016

Below are detailed instructions on how you can setup Active Directory on your Windows Server 2016.

Sections on installing Active Directory.

Note: You can only do the steps below if you are an Administrator of your Windows Server.

Change the Computer Name

This is an optional step, but I would highly encourage you to do this so that your computer name will not be like EC2AMAZ-3TVT1HF, but a more descriptive one.

In this case since I am going to use the computer that we will setup as an Active Directory Domain Contoller I shall name my Windows Server as DC01.

In fact, you will have a lot of problem if you rename your computer after installing Active Directory. So better do it now before continuing to the next step.

Follow the steps on my post to change the Computer Name of your Windows Server 2016.

For now check the System Information page of the Windows Server.

Note the Workgroup.

Install Active Directory Feature

Now that we have updated the Computer Name of our Windows Server we can now start installing Active Directory.

Click on the Window Icon on the bottom-left side of the screen. Click Server Manager from the Menu.

On the Server Manage Window click on Add roles and features. Continue reading Configure Active Directory on Windows Server 2016

Changing the Computer Name of Windows Server 2016

Every time I launch a Windows Server on AWS or Google Cloud it always provides a random Computer Name. As a good practice I always want my computers to be named descriptively.

In this case I would like to update my Windows Server 2016 Computer Name to DC01, which means Domain Controller 01, since I will be using this server for Active Directory.

Below is a step by step guide on how to rename my Windows Computers to a more descriptive name.

Renaming the Windows Computer

Right-click on the Window Icon on the lower-left of the screen. Then click on System.

On the System Information Window, under Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings click on Change settings.

Continue reading Changing the Computer Name of Windows Server 2016