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Overview of Deploying a Simple Managed Environment

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

This chapter provides a blueprint for deploying a simple managed environment. While it provides a complete end-to-end management solution for a small computing network, larger organizations can also use this chapter as a starting point for their configuration, and scale out as needed.

You can leverage the information in this chapter in two ways.

Create a small production environment   If you are the system administrator of a small organization that wants to deploy a new network based on servers running the Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 operating system, use the instructions here to build your initial production environment from the ground up, adding client computers and additional servers as needed. Be sure to follow all of the testing procedures included in "Testing and Deploying Your Configuration" later in this chapter, before inviting users to start their production work in the environment.

Create a test environment   If you are part of a large organization’s IT management team, use the guidelines and procedures in this chapter to build a test network for testing various implementations of Active Directory® directory service and Group Policy in Windows Server 2003. After the structure is in place and your work has been tested, staged, and deployed to your production network, you can continue to use this small network for modeling and testing new Group Policies.