Windows 2003, loading time.

cellophanecore

I have XP clients on a Windows 2003 domain. The problem is it takes so long for these clients to connect to the domain during login. Any one have any suggestions?

ajs1976

What DNS server are the pointing to? they should only have the IPs of the Windows DNS servers for your domain.

lazyart

They probably cant find your server. Do you have DNS set up?

You can add the server name and ip address to the HOSTS file of each client C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC\HOSTS ...but setting up DNS and adding an entry for the server is quicker.

cellophanecore

thanks guys, it had the ISP's dns servers in before. So why did it even work when the ISP's DNS ips were in as the dns server?

lazyart

Because it is looking outside the network first, and once that fails it looks inward.

skully93

lazyart wrote:

Because it is looking outside the network first, and once that fails it looks inward.

This is the sort of thing I want to practice a bit more before the MCSA/E tests.

I have several older machines with piles of RAM, so i'm thinking about setting up a domain at home to practice with.

lazyart

skully93 wrote:

This is the sort of thing I want to practice a bit more before the MCSA/E tests.

I have several older machines with piles of RAM, so i'm thinking about setting up a domain at home to practice with.

I have an Athlon 2400+ with 640 megs of RAM running on what I thought was a dead motherboard. Instead it is my primary domain controller running 2003 Server. References to a server are in the XP client exam so it's good to have handy. Reading is good, but DOING is better. Set one up. You dont need nearly as much under the hood as I have to teach yourself stuff like Remote Installation Service (so cool to boot a machine from it's NIC and see an unattended installation take place).

skully93

lazyart wrote:

ferences to a server are in the XP client exam so it's good to have handy. Reading is good, but DOING is better. Set one up. You dont need nearly as much under the hood as I have to teach yourself stuff like Remote Installation Service (so cool to boot a machine from it's NIC and see an unattended installation take place).

Well, my poor gaming box is an Athlon 2000+ with a gig of ram. I do have a 9800 pro in there, so it works great.

The server/domain controller would have to be abit less though. I have a good server, but due to the storage on it I'm not sure I want to mess with it all. some of the older machines are 500's and 600's, which more than quailify if I can pick up some old hard drives. I have PLENTY of sdram laying around. I'd like to toy around with making a domain so I can play with the more obscure aspects of Active Directory and things like that. I know the basic parts of my OS and even some of the administrative stuff inside and out through experience, but there are always those little gaps. I have yet to find a person that's a total expert in everything.