by Jason Zandri
www.2000trainers.com
Welcome to the second installment of Learn Active
Directory Design and Administration in 15 Minutes a Week, a weekly series aimed
at current IT professionals preparing to write the new Windows Active Directory
Design and Administration exams (70-219 and 70-217 respectively), as well as newcomers to the field who are trying to get a solid grasp on this new and emerging
directory service from Microsoft.
Jason Zandri’s second article in the Learn Active Directory Design and Administration in 15 Minutes a Week provides an overview of the Windows peer-to-peer Network Environment and the Windows domain Network Environment.
This week I will begin my
introduction to Active Directory Design and Administration by giving an overview
of the Windows peer-to-peer Network Environment and the Windows domain Network
Environment.
Windows 2000 Network Environment Overview
The Windows 2000 Active Directory is the directory service
used in the Windows 2000 Server family as well as the upcoming .NET server,
which stores information about all objects on a network that are available to
the directory, and makes this information available to users with the proper
permissions to access the objects using a single logon process. It provides
network administrators with a single point of administration for all network
objects.
Active Directory is currently available in the Windows 2000
Server family as well as the upcoming .NET server.
Currently there are three versions in the Windows 2000
Server family.
Windows 2000 Server
| Minimum System Requirements for Windows 2000 Server | |
|---|---|
Computer/Processor | 133 MHz or higher Pentium-compatible CPU |
| Memory | 256 megabytes (MB) of RAM recommended minimum [128 MB minimum supported; 4 gigabytes (GB) maximum] |
| Hard Disk | 2 GB hard disk with a minimum of 1.0 GB free space. (Additional free hard disk space is required if you are installing over a network.) |
| CPU Support | Windows 2000 Server supports up to four CPUs on one machine |
Windows 2000 Advanced Server
| Minimum System Requirements for Windows 2000 Advanced Server | |
|---|---|
Computer/Processor | 133 MHz or higher Pentium-compatible CPU |
| Memory | 256 MB of RAM recommended minimum (128 MB minimum supported; 8 GB maximum) |
| Hard Disk | 2 GB hard disk with a minimum of 1.0 GB free space. (Additional free hard disk space is required if you are installing over a network.) |
| CPU Support | Windows 2000 Advanced Server supports up to eight CPUs on one machine |
Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
| Minimum System Requirements for Windows 2000 Datacenter Server | |
|---|---|
| Computer | 8-way capable or higher server (supports up to 32-way)* * Note: Fault-tolerant system configurations are required to have at least 8 |
| Processor | Pentium III Xeon processors or higher |
| Memory | 256 megabytes (MB) of RAM recommended |
| Hard Disk | 2 gigabyte (GB) hard disk with a minimum of 1 GB free space. (Additional free hard disk space is required if you are installing over a network.) |
| Drive | CD-ROM or DVD drive |
| Display | VGA or higher resolution monitor |
When you set up a Windows 2000 Network Environment, you can
elect to set it up as a workgroup or as a domain. Windows 2000 Professional,
Windows XP Professional and the Windows 2000 Server family can participate in
either of these two network types. There are administrative differences between
the two as well as advantages and disadvantages to both.