@Alan said in what windows server should I choose for Active directory?:
@Grey This is my first IT job and started as a part-time help desk and part-time network tech . I don't have the experience but I do have a good background as I graduated with a computer engineering degree and got Cisco certs!
but this is my first step on getting experience
I wish you all the best as you start your career. I've a lot of experience in coming in after someone such as yourself, with limited experience, has set up an AD system and/or infrastructure, and I get paid as a contractor (at $150/hour) to clean up the mess. Typically, what I see is that someone had absolutely no clue how things actually work and set up login scripts instead of GPOs, only set up one domain controller, didn't set up any virtualization and had no plan for backups, if any were even implemented.
Since you're starting with a clean slate, I suggest you go with server 2016, and set that up on a robust hypervisor like Hyper-V (so you can leverage some license benefits and save money). Be sure to talk to your MS resale rep and get your licensing under control before you really embark on your design. Once you are satisfied that you and your reps have the licensing planned out, get a pair of domain controllers set up with both of them running DNS and DHCP -- do not use Cisco devices despite what your cert training said; just use helper addresses. Both servers should be set up and running as a peer (the concept of primary and secondary domain controllers is a dead concept, despite what your computer engineering degree or professors may have said). They will have the ability to fail over, and tehy should not be running on the same hypervisor platform (yes, you need 2 hypervisors -- 2 hosts). If your business is cheap, you can get away with a single hypervisor and 2 servers (guests) on them, though you need to explain the concept of uptime and service requirements to them if that's the case. Of course, it's the business that makes the decision on how much to spend and, I gather that they've hired a Jr. SysAdmin to do Sr. work, so they're likely unwilling to spend on infrastructure. Check with xByte and/or Stallard Tech to see if you can get some good second-hand equipment.
When you start adding systems to the domain, people are going to lose files and settings. They'll be in the workstation, but under a different profile. You'll have to migrate them. Check out Easy Transfer; it's part of Win7. I've used it before for exactly this kind of migration and it should do what you need.
You'll want to set up a file and printer server at some point; be sure to spec out storage with backup (Unitrends is my go-to) that's at least 50% over current capacity, if not more.
Once you have your AD servers and your file/print, you can look at exchange, or O365 to start leveraging more features of AD.
