Configuring Windows Server 2003 for a Small Business Network, Part 1

Many small businesses want to take advantage of the benefits of file sharing for their employees, but they don't have the on-staff expertise necessary to get a server off the ground properly. While a server and server, the software may be in the budget, paying a consultant several thousand dollars to set up and configure the server may not be. This article is the first in a series of articles aimed at a somewhat computer savvy user who wants to set up a network based on Windows Server 2003. The process doesn't have to be a nightmare, and this article will serve as a step by step HowTo for setting up a Windows Server 2003. A major goal of this series is to set up a network that can grow easily. Following this document, your network can expand and grow as your business does.

I will assume here that you have your server hardware in place, hooked up, and ready to go. There are many brands of servers out there and some may require configuration of their hard disk drives. Configuring the disk array is outside the scope of this document, but go ahead and post your questions on the forums. We'll help you as much as possible. For this article, I will assume that you either have one large disk drive or disk array which we will "partition" into two separate drives.

Step 1:

Find your installation CD(s), power on the server, and insert the installation CD. If your server doesn't boot up from the CD, you may have to press a certain key to enter a boot menu or to enter your BIOS to tell the server to boot from CD. The server should come to a black screen with "Press any Key to boot from CD... at the top. Go ahead and press a key. The screen should turn blue and things will flash along the bottom. The only thing of interest here is that if you have a special disk controller that Windows doesn't have built-in drivers for, then you will need to have a disk for it. Just press F6 when you see the server prompt for it along the bottom of the screen. You will come to a screen that says press "ENTER" to set up Windows now. Go ahead and do that. On the next screen, you will need to press F8 provided that you agree to the license there. Of course, if you don't agree, you don't install Windows. So it is a no-brainer... Next, you will come to the partitioning screen.

Step 2:

Select the Unpartitioned space, and press "C" to create our system partition. Next, enter the size of the partition in MB. I recommend using at least 6000 MB for the system drive. If you have lots of room to spare, say 70GB or more, then make your system partition about 15GB. Then select the unpartitioned space again, and create another drive. This time you can use the remaining available space. In my case, I only have 2GB to assign to it, but you will probably have much more. It doesn't matter. This will be your D: drive. Now your screen should look like Figure 1-1.



Partitioning

Step 3:

Now select the C: drive line like in Figure 1-1 and press "ENTER." You will come to a screen that looks like Figure 1-2. I recommend using NTFS over FAT every time in a server environment. The reasons are too numerous to mention. Select the "Quick format" option in Figure 1-2.

Step 4:

Now the server will copy files for a while and then reboot into a more graphical environment. You will come to a welcome screen that you can just click "Next" to go on through. The next screen allows you to choose language settings other than English, so unless you want your server to use a different language, then choose "Next."

Step 5:

The next screen allows you to "Personalize Your Server" so just choose an arbitrary name. I recommend refraining from funny or questionable names. Normally, I would enter the company name twice. In this example, I've used "Admin" and "Example Company." See Figure 1-3.

Step 6:

Enter your Product Key in the next window which looks like Figure 1-4. The product key should be on your CD case somewhere or on a certificate depending on how you acquired your copy of Windows Server 2003.