Multiple Domains

Lawbag_2

I attend the premises of several companies and performing accounting services on their Sage program etc...

Often there isnt a spare computer for me to use, so I always take along my laptop. 90% of companies these days use a domain for controlling their network, the trouble is I cant log onto their resources (printer, internet, file server, network drives etc) as Im not part of their domain.

How do I configure an easy way to handle domains, without having to through a lengthly process of changing the settings each time?

gaming_guy

you can only join the machine to one domain at a time. removing a computer from a domain often cripples it in my experience meaning that it's best to reinstall windows. Once the machine has been joined to a domain, it will then have all the restrictions of the company network placed onto it (such as preventing you from installing new programs).

also you can only join a domain if you have xp pro or vista/7 business, ultimate or enterprise.

Lawbag_2

I need to be able to join mutiple domains depending on which company Im preparing the accounts for.

PROLIANT

As long as you have a user account on the domain you can access the rescourses without the pc being a memeber of the domain.
You can setup mapped drives and when you will be prompted for a network logon e.g

DOMAIN\username
password

The same for exchange applies so you can access the exchange server from outlook.

I have done this many times in the past with success.

Regards

Pro

PROLIANT

Lawbag wrote: »

I need to be able to join mutiple domains depending on which company Im preparing the accounts for.

You can also run virtual machines on the same computer each setup for different domains, this is another approach used.

Lawbag_2

both options will be viable, thanks

omen666

gaming_guy wrote: »

you can only join the machine to one domain at a time. removing a computer from a domain often cripples it in my experience meaning that it's best to reinstall windows. Once the machine has been joined to a domain, it will then have all the restrictions of the company network placed onto it (such as preventing you from installing new programs).
.

Not exactly true npow is it. I have never known a machine to be rebuilt just because it has been removed from a domain?????

As for having all the restrictions from a company, it all depends on what GPO's they have and all corporate companies are different, so this will not necessarily apply.

PROLIANT wrote: »

As long as you have a user account on the domain you can access the rescourses without the pc being a memeber of the domain.
You can setup mapped drives and when you will be prompted for a network logon e.g

DOMAIN\username
password

The same for exchange applies so you can access the exchange server from outlook.

I have done this many times in the past with success.

Regards

Pro

Pro is totally correct here.

What I would suggest though would be to get the local IT team to provide you with a local administrator account on the server that Sage resides and also access to the SQL DB for Sage. Rather than join to the domain, RDP to the relative servers and login with the local admin acct that will then enable you to do the necessary work. That is what I done when we had a guy come and install Sage200 on our network. He did not need to join his laptop to the domain then.

If you do take this approach remember not to reboot any of the boxes in a live environment as they may have placed this on the main fileserver. Do the admin you need to do and then let the Infrastructure team know you will need it rebooting out of hours so they can raise a Change Control

gaming_guy

omen666 wrote: »

Not exactly true npow is it. I have never known a machine to be rebuilt just because it has been removed from a domain?????

yes, most will not need to be rebuilt, but the particular machine i'm talking about still had restrictive GPOs applied even though it was removed from the domain.

omen666

gaming_guy wrote: »

yes, most will not need to be rebuilt, but the particular machine i'm talking about still had restrictive GPOs applied even though it was removed from the domain.

Yes that would be the case if removed, I see where you are coming from now. Best thing then is when jpoined to the domain move the computer object into a non GPO OU in AD and then it wont matter when removed from the domain.

Cannot see why someone would need to join their laptop toother companies domains? I would never allow a foreign PC/Laptop on any of my domains regardless where it has come from. If a consultant has come in then I would allocate him a PC or something. I would be reluctant to even connect the network cable but seems from above he is fine to in some companies so would just RDP instead.