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9 replies

by itask1

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Would like to setup Logon, WINS, DHCP, DNS, Print Servers using MS Windows NT Server.

Will it be too heavy if all of them sit on 1 machine ?

What is a recommended approach to setup them up - using how many machines and which on each machine ?
Thank you.

9 replies

by avachon

Hi, I think the most reasonable answer to your question is, it depends. You mantion logon so I assume the machine would be a PDC or BDC. If you have a lot of users trying to authenticate on this server, it would be very difficult to force the machine also to be a print server for example. You can keep dhcp, wins and even dns on the same machine provided you have adequate resources. I would not force a domain controller to be a print server unless I absolutely had no other choice. Hope this helps.

by cavedweller

The only service you mention which has any significant load is print which handles files. The other services handle small amounts of data on an occasional basis.

Unless you have a very large domain you can safely combine them all on one server. If you have the resources you could setup a seperate print server. This way if printing hangs you can reboot that server without affecting critical functions.

by preacher_man

From experience I did not load print servers
with the rest of the group.Here is how I
broke things down:

1.Logon, DNS and DHCP on one server
2.WINS and EXCHG on another server
3.Print server along w/other apps and user
data storage on a 3rd server.

Network Performance is real good.

depending on how many servers you have to
work with, you can put LOGON, DNS, DHCP, and
WINS on one server.

The print server seems to be the one that
needs to be rebooted the most and with it
awayfrom the others I am able to reboot at
any time without any downtime. It's not a
frequent reboot but when you have to it makes
things much more manageable without any
downtime.

by cviehweg

Almost a year ago I switched our peer-to-peer network to domain. It contains about 400 nodes with around 200 users. I agree with above reply that a decent computer (we have a P2 550)can easily handle the load of DNS, WINS, DHCP, and PDC. I also put the user network directories on the PDC. It could probably handle the printing too, but you will soon discover that the printer server requires resetting more frequently than the other computers. I did make my BDC a print server though. I do not have the luxury of having 1 computer for 1 job, especially the jobs that do not require steady hi bandwidth utilization. Additionally you may require app servers if you have network apps with client on the workstations. We ruin a number includingSQL, BackOffice, and Oracle. You will want to determine the utilization you expect these apps to have and provide computers as required.

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