Deploying the first Domain Controller

So I'm now ready to build the first Domain Controller.  I connected the vSphere client to the vCenter server, right-clicked the template I created earlier and chose "Deploy Virtual Machine from this Template"

I've chosen to name this RSMSGDC01.  I chose to place this on the SSD storage.

With guest customisation, I chose to customise using the wizard.  I won't create a customisation template for now - I'll do that once the domain and DNS servers are up and running and I can save the template with them in it.

I set the machine name to the same as the VM name.

I added the windows license, set the admin password and time zone, didn't configure anything to run once, and configured the NIC with the IP Subnet Mask, and default gateway.  I temporarily set the DNS server to be 8.8.8.8, until i've got DNS up and running at which point I can set it to itself.  When I create the customisation template I'll get it to prompt for an IP, but leave the Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, and DNS servers statically assigned.

The domain doesn't exist yet so I set the machine to be a member of a workgroup.  When I create the template I'll set it to join the domain automatically.

I enabled the option to generate a new SID.

I didn't save the specification, and from there get the summary of customisations.

After that it's the final summary and the machine gets deployed.

With the guest deployed I could then boot.  From there I could then load the rules wizard and choose to install Active Directory Domain Services.

From there it's a simple Next and Install.

Installation completed successfully, we can now look to run dcpromo.

Running through dcpromo, I selected to create a new Domain in a new Forest.

For the Forest Root Domain, I'll be going with msgeek.local

For the Domain NetBIOS name, just MSGEEK.

I'll be running the Domain at Server 2008 R2 functional level.

I chose to install the DNS service on this DC, I also kept the database, logs and SYSVOL in their default locations on C:\.  I'd usually recommend at least the database be given a dedicated disk, but the fact this is a small lab deployment means sharing with the system volume should be fine.

After that, dcpromo prompts for a password for Active Directory Restore mode, which I entered, finally it displays a summary screen, showing the options selected.

The installer then installed the DNS components, and ran through the rest of the installation. finally prompting for a reboot for the changes to take effect.  After the reboot I was prompted to log onto the msgeek.local domain, this worked fine, and I was now at a point where (at least for now) I was happy with the config of this DC.