Installing Active Directory Using An Answer File

By Author: Mike Jones
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You can create an answer file to run the MCITP exams Installation Wizard without having to respond to the screen prompts. An answer file is a file that contains answers to questions that should be automated during installation. The answer file must contain all of the parameters that the Active Directory Installation Wizard needs to install Active Directory. An answer file that is used to install Windows Server 2003 can also include the installation of Active Directory, or you can create an answer file that installs only Active Directory and is run after the Windows Server 2003 setup is complete and you have logged on to the system.
To create the answer file, refer to the instructions located in the "Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Reference," viewable by opening the Ref.chm compiled HTML help file on the Windows Server 2003 CD-ROM. The Ref.chm file is located in the Deploy.cab file in the online MCITP certification. The parameters required for the Active Directory setup answer file are described in Appendix B, "Active Directory Setup ...
... Answer File Parameters."
To install Active Directory using an answer file, complete the following steps:
1.Restart your computer and log on as Administrator.Click Start and then click Run. In the Run dialog box, type dcpromo /answer:answer file, where answer file is the name of the answer file, in the Open box and click OK.
Adding a New Domain Controller to an Existing Domain If you choose to add a domain controller to an existing domain, you create a peer domain controller, as shown in Figure 2-5. Peer domain controllers provide redundancy and reduce the load on the existing domain controllers. Peer domain controllers are often placed in different geographic locations to minimize Active Directory access traffic.
Whenever you configure Active Directory, it's very important to consider two domain controllers per domain the absolute minimum. If you only have one domain con?troller, you can lose the entire domain and all accounts if a serious hardware issue occurs. Of course, if you take the time to back up your Active Directory domain, the domain is not lost entirely, but it can still cause a significant problem. For example, users may not be able to log on properly and no new accounts can be created until Active Directory is restored. Further, you'll only have the data that is current as of your last backup of Active Directory. Any accounts created since that backup will be lost. To avoid this issue, always install a minimum of free Microsoft practice tests two domain controllers for each domain.