Topic: I need help setting up a Primary Domain controller.

[darkgumby]

I've searched the forums and not found much on this.
The docs are pretty sparse too. That leads me to believe that this normally 'just works'. But it's not working for me.

I am running SME 6.0 and have WinXP Pro and Win2k Pro clients. The XP machines can connect to the workgroup with no problem. The Win2K machines cannot see the workgroup. Not a big deal if I can get the Primary Domain working.

I can not get any machine to log into the Domain. Sometimes I can a 'Welcome to the Domain' message. After the reboot I still cannot connect to the domain.

Help!

[shanen]

Use the root username and password to join the domain and see how you go...

[pete]

HAve setup a Domain in SME 6.0 and had no troubles at all - just to be sure, you have joined the machines to the domain? Its in system properties, computer name, you will need the root/admin account to join them, once joined this way restart and make sure the domain field at login is displaying your domain name>?

Hopefully SME gurus will read this thread - if so - how can you create a distributed domain using multiple SME server that sync the user accounts? so you could ftp on one machine and email on another?

[darkgumby]

I have tried using 'admin' for the username and the root/admin password for the password. Still no luck.

Now on to an assumption. I assume that the domain name is the same as the system's domain name.
If my system is named server.home.net then the Windows domain name is 'server'. Correct?

One more thing. I was able to get a Win2K box to connect to the workgroup. Don't know what I did wrong before but it worked perfectly last night.

Now I will describe what I do when I try to get the Win2K machine to join the domain.
1. Right Click 'My Computer'
2. Click 'Network Identification'
3. Click 'Network ID'
4. The Wizard starts and I click 'Next'
5. I choose 'This computer is part of a business network...' and click 'Next'
6. I choose 'My company uses a network with a domain'. and click 'Next'
7. I see the screen that tells me all the stuff I need to know. I click 'Next'
8. I enter 'admin' for the username, the admin password, and the domain name. I click 'Next'.
9. I then get a message that says 'Your Computer must also belong to a domain'. I am prompted for the computer name and domain name. I enter the computer name and domain name and click 'Next'.
10. I get a message box that says, 'The domain is either invalid or does not exist'. I click 'OK'.
11. I click 'Cancel'.

Now I try the following.
1. Right Click 'My Computer'
2. Click 'Network Identification'
3. Click 'Properties'
4. I enter the computer name and the domain name. I click 'OK'
5. I get an error message that says that the domain does not exist or cannot be detected.

The SME box is providing the IP via DHCP.
I can ping the SME box by IP and by name. I can browse
 the Net.

Is there a log on the SME box that will show me what happens when a client tries to join the domain?

Is there a log under Windows that might give more clues?

Any more ideas?

[ktenbrook]

>>Now on to an assumption. I assume that the domain name is the same as the system's domain name.
If my system is named server.home.net then the Windows domain name is 'server'. Correct?

No, that is not correct.  I don't remember where - but you specify the Windows domain name when you initially setup the SME server.  "server" is your host name.  "home.net" is your Internet domain, which is not the same as a Windows domain name.

[Anonymous]

Yeah your wrong on your first point - thats the HOSTname you refer to, the domain name is NOT dependant on the host name. Look in your server manage under workgroup, set the DOMAIN name, set it to Domain mode (cant recall exact wording now)

You get the message about the domain being invalid because you are using the hostname instaead of the domain name, otherwise your procedure isnt far off - the computer name is the name of the machine your trying to join to the domain, the client.

Once you set the domain part up you will be right

[darkgumby]

I went to the 'Change workgroup settings' page and set the 'Server Name' to 'server'. Then I tried that for the domain name under Win2K. Still no luck.

BTW, I can ping 'server' and get the IP of the SME box.


I'm going to install SME on another box for testing. I'll use all default values except for the IPs. What will my Domain name be if I don't change it from the SME default?

[pete]

Arent your trying to join your machine to the domain, hosted on SME? IF so, why mess around with workgroup settings? Follow the "Join this machine to a domain" procedure...

[darkgumby]

Pete, I've tried both. I can browse the workgroup but cannot join the Domain.

[pete]

SME:
1. In the server-manager click workgroup
2. Set the workgroup name (this is poorly labelled in SME), this will be our Domain name - eg "DOMAIN1"
3. Select "act as PDC"
4. Go to DHCP and specify all your DHCP stuff, make sure your gateway and DNS setting are correct.


Win2k:
1. Right Click 'My Computer'
1a. Select computer name and make sure says DOmain/your domain name - you might have to do this last? i cant recall, i join 20 machines a day to domain without looking usually
2. Click 'Network Identification'
3. Click 'Network ID'
4. The Wizard starts and I click 'Next'
5. I choose 'This computer is part of a business network...' and click 'Next'
6. I choose 'My company uses a network with a domain'. and click 'Next'
7. I see the screen that tells me all the stuff I need to know. I click 'Next'
8. I enter SME 'admin' for the username, the SME admin password, and the domain name we specified in the steps above. I click 'Next'.
9. I then get a message that says 'Your Computer must also belong to a domain'. I am prompted for the computer name and domain name. I enter the computer name and domain name and click 'Next'.
10. Then you will be prompted for the admin username and pass again , enter it, and the domain name, it will say all is good and prompt you to restart - when you restart you will see 3 field in the login dialogue, or you maybe need to hit options button to the third/domain field...then you MUST log in with an account that is creatyed on your domain controller - SME...create a regular user account onj SME and login in to your win2k box...

PS: i know nothing of SME 5.6 - so you may need to search around to see where this change for 5.6 - its possible you need to make a change with win2k registry...? Search these forums...

[darkgumby]

Pete! That works! Thanks a million!

In case anybody else reads this thread and tries to figure this out, here is what I did:
Under SME I set the workgroup name to 'domain1'.
Under Win2K I was able to join the 'domain1' domain with  the admin account.
After the reboot I was able to log in as another user that has an account on the SME box.

[pete]

Glad i could help

Its pretty groovy isnt it - and it has MANY features, start looking around the forums for info on login scripts and group policies (careful with these, DONT use on admin account) - you can really lock down the local machine based on who logs on...plus plenty of other cool stuff.

[doublemeter]

Howdy,
one thing I noticed when I set up my network (SME 6 and win XP & Win 2000 clients) was that you should always set the client machines to workgoup, restart the computers and then join your domain. This should always be done if creating a machine account on the SME server fails for whatever reason. Must be just another way big M$ tries to throw a spanner in the works of a linux network!
Cheers, Udo

[kraz]

That really helped me too!!  

Now I dont need to upgrade to e-smith 6.0

Unless you recommend it...We only use it for fileserver not anything else...

Have a

[Neririn]

I have a 5.6 SME box working as my primary domain controller (hope to go to 6.0 this weekend)

Anyway, I seem to have a lot of trouble getting my user profiles when I log into a domain machine.  I often get the error, "Windows could not load your roaming profile, you will be logged on using local settings".  Has anyone experienced/overcome this issue?

Thanks