Things a DC Needs

Learned a bit more about Acitve Directory today. I learn a bit everyday. But today I learned important things.

Namely, things a DC must have running to be a DC.

You must have the DHCP Client service running, even if you are not using DHCP. This is because the DHCPClient service handles the dynamic DNS registration, which the AD needs to know that your DC is a DC. Now, why they put this functionality in the DHCP Client service instead of having a DNS Client service is beyond me. Seems that DNS is important enough to Win2K and AD that it could have it's own client service. But then, what do I know?

You must also have SMTPsvc running. Seems it can't advertise that it's a DC without SMTP running. Again, WTF? Running SMTP on a server that is not a mail server is an inherently bad idea. Which is probably why I have to do it.

Thank you Microsoft. I enjoy the lifestyle supporting your wretched crap affords me.

Posted by danisaacs at October 29, 2003 11:34 PM | TrackBack