OK, so you have implemented Active Directory Sites and Services, the next question is usually “How do I test it is working?”

I do this by running a script which will determin which site the computer you are on can be located in.

In this example I have created my sites and configured them with the respective subnets, then added a new machine to the domain I then log on to the new server and open a command prompt and create a new vbs file (mysite.vbs) and add the following lines of text

Set objADSysInfo = CreateObject(”ADSystemInfo”)
WScript.Echo “Your current site name = ” & objADSysInfo.SiteName

I then run the vbs file using cscript

cscript mysite.vbs

here is the ooutput from the command prompt :-

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>cscript mysite.vbs
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.6
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 1996-2001. All rights reserved.

Your current site name = Site-1

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

I recently ran DCPromo on a Windows Server 2008 Core.

Even though I had the line in my unattended text file “InstallDNS=Yes” DNS Failed to install. I ran the following command

start /w ocsetup DNS-Server-Core-Role

The install took less that a minute, once completed I connected to the machine from a management server and opened DNS. DNS was installed and because my configuration for DNS was Active Directory Integrated all the Zones, Records etc were available.

Using /w prevents the command prompt from returning until the installation completes. Without /w, there is no indication that the installation completed.

Update

I have found a very good post here that may help people wanting more information about <a title=”Active Directory” href=”http://iponsel.com/ebook/a-guide-to-microsoft-active-directory-ad-design/2008/09/18/” target=”_blank”>Active Directory</a>

Once we have installed Windows 2008 we need to configure RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) so we can connect to our new server remotely.

First we need to allow the server to be administered remotely. W can do this by running the following command

winrm quickconfig

This willenable the basic configuration so you can connect to the server remotely using an MMC concole

By default RDP is disabled so we need to logon from the console (or VMware server) with an Administrator account and use the following commands

1. cd \
2. cd windows
3. cd system32
4. cscript scregedit.wsf /ar o (the last character is a zero)
5. cscript scregedit.wsf /ar /v (this displays the registry entry so you can verify it has been changed)

The disable RDP

1. cd \
2. cd windows
3. cd system32
4. cscript scregedit.wsf /ar 1
5. cscript scregedit.wsf /ar /v (this displays the registry entry so you can verify it has been changed)

When running the verify command the following applies

1 indicated RDP is disabled
0 ondicates RDP is enabled

RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) stops working on Windows 2008 Core when promoted to DC (Domain Controller)

I had a fully configured Windows 2008 Enterprise server running in Core more. RDP was configured correctly and I could log on to the desktop using MSTSC.

I then promoted the server using DCPROMO to be the first DC in a new domain in a new forest. Once this was complete the machine rebooted.

At this point I could no longer log on to the server using RDP. I tried a few things like disabling the firewall, and running the following command but nothing would work.

c:windowssystem32 > cscript scregedit.wsf /ar 0

Solution

1. run the command c:windowssystem32 > cscript scregedit.wsf /ar 1 to disable RDP
2. run the command c:windowssystem32 > cscript scregedit.wsf /ar /v this will display the registry setting so you can check the value is set to 1
3. reboot the server
4. run the command c:windowssystem32 > cscript scregedit.wsf /ar 0 this will enable RDP
5. run the command c:windowssystem32 > cscript scregedit.wsf /ar /v this will display the registry setting so you can check the value is set to 0
6. reboot the server

Please note I am running these commands from the system32 folder. by default your command promt will be at c:usersadministrator to change directory to the system32 folder use the following commands

• cd
• cd windows
• cd system32