2003 DNS, WINS and Domain Controller Question

I have 2 sites, each on its own subnet and connected together (shortly) via a
VPN. I need to upgrade our NT4 domain to 2003 AD. The network is quite
small, about 10 clients at one site and about 50 at the other.

Is it possible to install 2 fairly high spec servers at each site that will
run as a DC, WINS and DNS servers on each server. The primary and secondary
wins/dns will point to the 2 local servers on site and there will be
replication between the 2 sites.
I went for two servers at each site purely for backup purposes incase the
VPN goes down and also if one of the servers at one of the sites went down.

Does this sound ok of do I need to seperate some of the services on the
servers.

Thanks in advance for any help

You should be fine. A single DC can run those services with no problems.
"MarkSJ" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:
>I have 2 sites, each on its own subnet and connected together (shortly) via
>a
> VPN. I need to upgrade our NT4 domain to 2003 AD. The network is quite
> small, about 10 clients at one site and about 50 at the other.
>
> Is it possible to install 2 fairly high spec servers at each site that
> will
> run as a DC, WINS and DNS servers on each server. The primary and
> secondary
> wins/dns will point to the 2 local servers on site and there will be
> replication between the 2 sites.
> I went for two servers at each site purely for backup purposes incase the
> VPN goes down and also if one of the servers at one of the sites went
> down.
>
> Does this sound ok of do I need to seperate some of the services on the
> servers.

You should setup primary DNS and 2nd DNS servers point to themselves as primary and each other as secondary. More details can be found.

Troubleshooting DNS If you have two or more DNS servers in different locations, you will setup primary DNS and 2nd DNS servers point to themselves as primary and each other as ...
www.chicagotech.net/dnstroubleshooting.htm




Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
"MarkSJ" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:8497F3D9-CB8D-44E0-B98D-(E-Mail Removed)...
I have 2 sites, each on its own subnet and connected together (shortly) via a
VPN. I need to upgrade our NT4 domain to 2003 AD. The network is quite
small, about 10 clients at one site and about 50 at the other.

Is it possible to install 2 fairly high spec servers at each site that will
run as a DC, WINS and DNS servers on each server. The primary and secondary
wins/dns will point to the 2 local servers on site and there will be
replication between the 2 sites.
I went for two servers at each site purely for backup purposes incase the
VPN goes down and also if one of the servers at one of the sites went down.

Does this sound ok of do I need to seperate some of the services on the
servers.

Thanks in advance for any help

Off Topic question for you Robert. Can you use forwarders
instead of using the remote DNS servers as secondaries?

"Robert L [MS-MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
You should setup primary DNS and 2nd DNS servers point to themselves as
primary and each other as secondary. More details can be found.

Troubleshooting DNS If you have two or more DNS servers in different
locations, you will setup primary DNS and 2nd DNS servers point to
themselves as primary and each other as ...
www.chicagotech.net/dnstroubleshooting.htm