Chad’s Quick Notes - Installing a Domain Controller with Server 2016 Core
I will admit with Windows Server 2012 R2 I usually installed the full gui version and then once I had the server the way I wanted it, I would uninstall the gui. With this no longer being possible with Windows Server 2016 I had to dust off my notes on how to leverage sconfig and powershell to configure new domain controllers running Windows Server 2016 Core. Here is my notes on what I did.
Setting up a DC to host a new domain.
Go through the installation and put in the new password.
In the core console run “powershell.exe”.
Then run:
1: Rename-computer -newname 2016-DC01
Hold off on rebooting until after you set the Static IP and DNS.
Edit: Locate the Nic card you want to set up IP information for by running
Get-NetAdapter
Use the name of the adapter as the interfaceAlias.
1: $ipaddress = "10.0.0.2"
2: $dnsaddress = "127.0.0.1"
3: New-NetIPAddress -InterfaceAlias Ethernet -IPAddress $ipaddress -AddressFamily IPv4 -PrefixLength 24
Update the DNS Server.
1: Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias Ethernet -ServerAddresses $dnsaddress
Restart the server.
1: Restart-Computer
Log back into the server,
Edit: Great recommendation below is to make sure the Time Zone is set
get-timezone
Set-TimeZone -Id "Mountain Standard Time"
Install and configure the first Domain Controller in a new forest/domain named “sixteen.contoso.ad”. (I have to many contoso labs built)
1: Install-WindowsFeature AD-Domain-Services -IncludeManagementTools
1: Install-ADDSForest -DomainName sixteen.contoso.ad
Provide the safemodeadministratorpassword
Then confirm you want the server to be configured and rebooted.
The usual warnings should prompt and eventually be prompted for sign out.
Log back in and do some initial validation.
Validate the new DC
Use DCDIAG
Make sure AD/DNS services are running
1: Get-Service adws,kdc,netlogon,dns
Check for sysvol and netlogon shares
1: Get-smbshare
Review logs
1: get-eventlog "Directory Service" | select entrytype, source, eventid, message
2: get-eventlog "Active Directory Web Services" | select entrytype, source, eventid, message
With this being the first DC shouldn’t be to much to check
Making a Windows 2016 Server a Domain Controller in an existing domain
Here we go, at the PowerShell prompt on the new server run the following.
Rename-computer -newname 2016-DC02
$ipaddress = "10.0.0.3"
$dnsaddress = "10.0.0.2"
New-NetIPAddress -InterfaceAlias Ethernet -IPAddress $ipaddress -AddressFamily IPv4 -PrefixLength 24
Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias Ethernet -ServerAddresses $dnsaddress
Restart-computer
Set-TimeZone -Id "Mountain Standard Time"
Install-WindowsFeature AD-Domain-Services -IncludeManagementTools
#see if any updates are available and patch prior by using sconfig or
$AutoUpdates = New-Object -ComObject "Microsoft.Update.AutoUpdate"
$AutoUpdates.DetectNow()
Install-ADDSDomainController -DomainName "sixteen.contoso.ad" -credential $(get-credential)
At the Windows PowerShell credential prompt use credentials for the domain you plan on this Domain Controller hosting.
Set the SafeModeAdministratorPassword, then validate that the server is to be configured and restarted.
Once the new Domain Controller restarts and comes back up, leverage the Validation Section to make sure it looks good. Also leverage some of the replication cmdlets to validate replication is working.
1: Get-ADReplicationFailure -scope SITE -target Default-First-Site-Name | FT Server, FirstFailureTime, FailureClount, LastError, Partner -AUTO
2: Get-ADReplicationPartnerMetadata -Target * -Partition * | Select-Object Server,Partition,Partner,ConsecutiveReplicationFailures,LastReplicationSuccess,LastRepicationResult
That is all I'm going to cover in this blog I hope you find it useful.
Chad
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