Join a computer to a domain

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003 R2

For Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) to function, each computer that functions as a federation server must be joined to a domain. Federation server proxies may be joined to a domain, but this is not a requirement.

ADFS-enabled Web servers must be joined to any domain in the same forest where the resource federation server resides whenever the Web servers host a Windows NT token–based application. This is a requirement that makes it possible for the Windows NT token-based Web agent to properly retrieve group membership information from Active Directory.

You do not have to join an ADFS-enabled Web server to a domain if the Web server is hosting claims-aware applications only.

To join a computer to a domain

  1. On the computer that you want to join to a domain, click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click System.

  2. On the Computer Name tab, click Change.

  3. Under Member of, click Domain, type the name of the domain that this computer will join, and then click OK.

  4. Click OK, and then restart the computer.

See Also

Concepts

Checklist: Installing a federation server
Checklist: Installing a federation server proxy
Checklist: Installing an ADFS-enabled Web server