[Newbie] Problems and questions

[crismclaughlin]

First off hello everyone this is my first post and I am glad to see such a nice community. I am a computer science major and have acquired a free version of windows server 2008 from my university. I am trying to setup a home network at my house and I am having some problems. Each computer in my house is setup with a static IP and DNS from OpenDNS | Providing A Safer And Faster Internet. I want to be able to login to my server through a domain controller and assign group policies ect. I ran through the dcpromo installation but I am unable to join the domain. Do I need to own the domain even if I am only using it through LAN? Also, would it be wise to set up DHCP role and remove the static IP settings on my windows XP pro compters? More questions will arise I am sure since this is my first experience in the world of windows server. Thanks for the help, Cris

 

[RSchwarz]

You have to own the domain unless you sre using a local address such as localhost.localdomain. It would be best to let the server give out IP to the XP boxes that connect.

 

[crismclaughlin]

You have to own the domain unless you sre using a local address such as localhost.localdomain. It would be best to let the server give out IP to the XP boxes that connect.

Now when you say localhost.localdomain, I am assuming I can specify mclaughlin.local or do I need to use localhost (I do realize that localhost is my local IP)