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by rllat

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I did not set this system up but need to change it. Background...a small workgroup with one computer OS NT server 4.0 used as a file server with the database on it. There are 8 WS with NT 4.0 WS. Each WS has the parent program used to access the database. Currently they have no security (everyone is set as an administrator) anywhere on the system. There is a DSL modem with a Linksys hub for Internet use. Each computer seems to have a static IP although the Linksys has DHCP capabilities. The Question(s)...how would be the best/easiest method to convert this lan to a Server/Workstation domain and use the hub as the DHCP? Can this server(?) be promoted to a Domain controller/server and the workstations set as WS within the domain? Please include as many details as you can in your answer(s).

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by timwalsh

What you want to accomplish is definitely "do-able," it's really a question of how much pain you want to go through to get there.

I suspect that everyone uses the Administrator account so that no additional user accounts would need to be created. In a peer-to-peer network environment (which you have), every computer hosting shared resources (printers, files/folders, etc) must have a user account setup for all users who need to access those shared resources.

BTW, if the Linksys has DHCP capabilities, I suspect it is actually a router with a built-in hub/switch.

Are the static IP addresses provided by the ISP, or are they in one of the private IP address ranges (10.0.0.0, 198.162.0.0)? I suspect they are probably private IP addresses (which means they are not routable on the Internet). This, by itself, should pose no problem to what you want to accomplish.

The first issue is that in NT4, you must designate a computer as a domain controller (either PDC or BDC) during software installation. Therefore, in your situation, you will need to completely reinstall NT4 on your server. This will probably be the most "painful" aspect in reaching your goal.

To increase security, you will need to create user accounts for each user (with their own user ID and password). The good news is that these only need to be created on the Primary Domain Controller (PDC).

You will probably want to implement at least one Backup Domain Controller (BDC) to provide some measure of fault tolerance (if you have a BDC as part of a domain, if your PDC dies, you merely have to promote your BDC to PDC to make your domain operational again. If you only have a PDC and no BDCs, if the PDC dies, you may need to totally recreate your domain.).
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by timwalsh

If your computers are working correctly with static IP addresses, there is no real need to change to DHCP. DHCP provides an advantage in that you don?t have to configure all the DNS settings on each computer. You also don?t need to reconfigure each computer when DNS settings change. You most certainly can use the DHCP capability of your Linksys router. You merely need to enable this feature on the router, make sure you tell it provide enough IP addresses for the size of your network (plus some extras), and configure your workstations to get an IP address automatically (via DHCP).

Hope this gets you started in the right direction. Let me know if you need additional info.

by rllat

The answers were totally helpful and have allowed me to continue with the work.

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