Setting up Workstations

This morning we made sure to activate our Windows 2008 Server software. This took a little searching, but according to the folks at the website My Digital Life

you can type slmgr –ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx in command prompt to activate. 

For those of you who need a decode on what that is:

        slmgr = software licensing manager

        -ipk = install product key

        xxx ... = the actual product key

Then we made some changes to the DNS server. First thing we wanted to check was to be sure that the server knew where to send traffic if it could not reconcile an IP address within our network. We reconfigured the DNS to send traffic to the main server, then also provided two back-up servers from a couple of the other teams around us should this ever happen. This way, information coming in will go through at least four servers and, unless those other teams used the same servers we did, up to six in order to find the correct destination of the IP address. This was no too complicated to do once we knew to open the DNS properties and add the IP addresses of those servers. Because the DHCP and the DNS share information, we did not have to enter it all again. 

The final task was to set up two workstations with Windows 7 and make sure they had internet access, could retrieve shared information from the server and also place information on the server's shared file.

For the install we found Robert Cowart and Brian Knittel at Computer World , Daniel Petri at Petri IT Knowledgebase and the folks at Finest Daily to have great visuals and information. Basically you insert the disk and press F12 before the installed operating system boots so that the CD begins the install process [you may have to choose to boot from the disk drive]. Then you follow the screens and make a few decisions along the way.

The first choice we had to make was naming the computer. The advice on the internet is basically directing home users, so the username and computer name are really of little importance. In a network this is more important. Most importantly, we had to make sure that Administrator is a user on the computer so that we can, well, administer! But the name of the computer has nothing to do with the user name [by default windows will use the username as part of the computer name], so we typed in a name as provided in the network plan we choose for this course. We also had to ensure that the computer was assigned to the network's workgroup [this took a little searching] and make sure all necessary drivers were installed. All of this took place shortly after we installed Windows 7 updates ... never forget your updates!

After the hunting exercise yesterday, we had a much easier time with it all. Updating the system, finding and installing the drivers, this is all basically the same as yesterday. However, we could not find the appropriate drivers for Windows 7. According to the support offered from Dell regarding Windows 7 compatibility for drivers, we were safe to use the drivers for Vista 32-bit instead.
Our final task was to get information from the server onto the workstation as well as share information from the workstation with the server. We were able to do this after the files on the server were opened for sharing.

Funny, though, as I  thought this was done the day before ... strange!