Cheapest way to get a domain? Consider Linux. Samba 4.0 is now a compatible Active Directory Domain Controller. That means you can setup a domain with it and play with it with all the native Windows tools (Active Directory Users and Computers, Group Policy, etc...)
Zentyal is a "small business" distro that acts as a DC using Samba 4. They want you to register, but it's free to try and a lot easier than setting up a Samba 4 server by hand. If you are curious, give it a go in a VM. http://www.zentyal.org/ I tried it out when it was in beta. It was functional then, but the interface was a bit funky and slow. YMMV. --Matt Ross Ephrata School District _____ From: Michael Leone [mailto:[email protected]] To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 07:55:43 -0800 Subject: [NTSysADM] Cheapest way to get Win2008 server for home use I read where TechNet is being discontinued. At home I have 3-4 PCs. I wouldn't mind putting them into their own domain. (I don't really need a domain at home, but it might be nice, I guess). So: considering that all I really want is a copy of Win2008 R2 server (I could use Win2012, I guess, except that I hate the UI), and only for at most 5 clients, what would be the cheapest way to do that? Would it still be TechNet, even though that's more than a little overkill for what I want? I don't want or need Exchange, SharePoint, etc. Just something to use as a DC, really. If it's not too much money, I would consider it. Otherwise I would just continue using a workgroup ... Thanks
