{"id":403,"date":"2013-11-28T06:46:26","date_gmt":"2013-11-28T05:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.em-soft.si\/myblog\/elvis\/?p=403"},"modified":"2015-09-16T08:28:35","modified_gmt":"2015-09-16T06:28:35","slug":"step-by-step-install-windows-server-essentials-2012-r2-with-non-local-domain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/em-soft.si\/myblog\/elvis\/?p=403","title":{"rendered":"Step-by-step install Windows Server Essentials 2012 R2 with non local domain"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the best practice of the latest few years, .local domain is not a good way to be deployed in any environment. The main reason for this is that since November 1 2015, will end the ability to have .local domains in public certificates<\/a>. This will also apply in small environments, because we also use that certificates (for example we use them in Remote desktop services, Exchange, Remote web workplace\u2026). On the other way, it is also not a good choice to have the internal domain name the same as the external. I would suggest you, for the internal domain name, to choose some kind of subdomain of the public domain name. For example, we can use company.com as public (external) domain name and internal.company.com as internal (Active Directory) domain name.
\nWhen you install the Essentials Server 2012R2, you will not be able to choose the internal domain name as you want, but this is simply your NetBIOS domain with.local extension in the end \u2013 exactly the type of extension we want to avoid.
\nHere is the step-by-step guide how to install Essentials server with different, more accurate options. In the example we have below, we will install Essentials server with NetBIOS domain name MyCompany, AD domain name Internal.Mycompany.com, server name MyServer and company name MyCompany. In your installation, you have to change the variables to your desired values.<\/p>\n

The installation begins with a normal server installation from a media and after the server restarts, when the Configure Windows Server Essentials wizard will appear, you can see that you have no place to write your AD domain name (picture 1).<\/p>\n

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\nAt this point, just close this wizard with cancel (picture 2).<\/p>\n

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\nOpen the PowerShell as Administrator and write the syntax:
\nStart-WssConfigurationService -CompanyName “MyCompany” -DNSName “Internal.MyCompamny.com” -NetBiosName “MyCompany” -ComputerName “MyServer\u201d \u2013NewAdminCredential $cred -Setting All<\/span>
\nThe explanation of all used switches is available on TechNet<\/a>. Enter your AD administrator credentials in the window that will appear. This will be the new administrator \u2013 the same as you configure it in the Essential server wizard (picture 3).<\/p>\n

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\nWhen the system will prompt, if you want to continue the Essentials server configuration, just click Y (picture 4).<\/p>\n

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\nExit from PowerShell and the server will restart. After this, when you log in, you will see that the wizard Configure Windows Server Essentials will run. You have just to wait that it will finish. At this point the wizard has all the information it needs and you are not able to change them (picture 5).<\/p>\n

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\nThis is all you need to do. As you can see in the picture 6, now we have installed the server with a non .local domain and with all the settings we want.<\/p>\n

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