The CS-General Windows Domain

Introduction

There is a Windows Domain (part of the Active Directory infrastructure) membership in which provides some advantages:

• printers: printers are pre-defined and authentication is automatic (assuming you are logged into the domain)
• file-space mapping for Core home directory
• automated updates and centralized management

Joining the domain

To join the domain:

• You must be on a CS-network (not a 192.168.x.x address)
• Make sure that the hosts (or lmhosts) file on the Windows system (%systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc) contains:

#
# CSCF Windows lmhosts file
#
129.97.152.158    "CS-GENERAL     \0x1b"     #PRE
129.97.152.31     "CS-TEACHING    \0x1b"     #PRE
129.97.15.67      "CSCF           \0x1b"     #PRE
129.97.140.29     "MFCF           \0x1b"     #PRE
129.97.152.157    serverus                   #PRE #DOM:CS-GENERAL
129.97.152.158    intacta                    #PRE #DOM:CS-GENERAL
129.97.152.162    smb-files.cs               #PRE #DOM:CS-GENERAL
129.97.152.162    smb-printers.cs            #PRE #DOM:CS-GENERAL
129.97.152.164    services106                #PRE #DOM:CS-GENERAL
129.97.152.30     canadenis                  #PRE #DOM:CS-TEACHING
129.97.152.31     eponina                    #PRE #DOM:CS-TEACHING
129.97.152.11     smb-files.student.cs       #PRE #DOM:CS-TEACHING
129.97.152.11     smb-printers.student.cs    #PRE #DOM:CS-TEACHING
129.97.15.69      aeshena                    #PRE #DOM:CSCF
129.97.15.68      glaciais                   #PRE #DOM:CSCF
129.97.15.67      elisa                      #PRE #DOM:CSCF
129.97.140.29     flounder                   #PRE #DOM:MFCF
129.97.216.103    tuna                       #PRE #DOM:MFCF
129.97.216.122    sturgeon                   #PRE #DOM:MFCF
129.97.74.182     grover                     #PRE #DOM:CS-GENERAL 

• from My Computer- right-click, choose "properties", choose Computer Name, press the Change button. In the "Member of" box, click Domain and type "cs.uwaterloo.ca" in the box. NOTE THAT THIS MUST BE THE DOMAIN BOX, NOT WORKGROUP. You will be prompted for domain credentials: Only a domain administrator account will work here.
• wait a while
• You will see "Welcome to the CS-GENERAL domain"

Logging into the domain

The userid/password is the 8-character truncation of the CS Core userid and password.

Caveats

Domain accounts presently store their desktops on the network. This has the advantage of portability between systems (which may not be terribly useful for people who always use the same system). If you have been using a local account for a while you will want to migrate your settings to the domain account. This typically includes everything within the "Documents and Settings" folder for the local user. There may be some temp and cache folders that aren't necessary, but you will probably want to migrate most of the rest. Consult an expert for details.

• Note that the Research OU is defined to have desktops stored locally