Domains, DNS and Active Directory

[Howard]

Ok this will sound a bit stupid, but I have Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 and want to set it all up nicely as a learning curve.

So could anyone point me in the direction of good articles explaining how a DNS server works exactly, and how I would go about setting one up properly on my server? It seems to be a major part of Exchange.


I'll admit I know nothing about all this server business, but as I said, I want to learn

TIA for any help.

[Jiff Lemon]

Major part of exchange? It's the backbone of the whole O/S!

Good starting point would be:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...301197&sd=tech

yes, I know it says in a workgroup, but if you've got it sorted and working in a workgroup, then there's less hassle whilst DCpromo'ing.

That said, 2k3 makes it a whole lot easier NOT to cock up (unlike 2k!)

[Howard]

Mmmm.. Have no idea how to set up DNS properly... I don't really want DNS server capabilities, it's just required for Exchange and it's services

Once I had it and Active Directory installed, everything went a bit wrong.. I have no idea how I get my XP machine to connect to the domain, and I couldn't load any websites (my server serves ICS). Also I couldn't get onto my website (IIS).

Any step by step guides that explain everything (unlike MS' pages which only go through the bare minimum) to someone who has had no experience and is likely to not understand a load of it?