Chapter 3. Joining Client Computers to the Windows Small Business Server Domain

Joining client computers to the Windows Small Business Server 2008 (Windows SBS) domain is an excellent example of the Windows SBS 2008 philosophy of automating administrative tasks to the point of miniscule effort. You can join 10, 20, or more client computers to a domain without first having to create computer accounts in the Active Directory directory service. You can also configure Group Policy, updates, disk quotas, e-mail quotas, and folder redirection with a minimal amount of effort and, better yet, without having to touch each individual native tool or program.

You can use the Windows SBS Connect Computer Wizard (covered in Section 3.3) combined with several Windows SBS Console tasks (covered in Chapter 2), and voila, your client computers will become Windows SBS 2008 network clients that are standardized and easily managed. But before you assemble your Windows SBS 2008 network, you must be sure the client computers meet certain prerequisites.