Windows network domains

Last revision July 28, 2004

Shared disks and printers are organized in the Windows networking system using "domains" and "workgroups". These are concepts similar to zones in AppleTalk. Domains can only be setup using a special "domain server" computer; services within that domain are only visible and available to client computers that authenticate themselves to the domain server. Workgroups can be used by individual computers in a peer-to-peer relationship. They can assign themselves to any workgroup and must individually authenticate to each other workgroup computer to use its services.

In the School of Earth Sciences, the Petroleum Engineering department has set up a Windows Domain server with the domain name PetEng. Any other group that wants to setup a domain server should talk to the Computer Manager first. Individual Windows computer users should configure their system to use a sensible workgroup name. All workgroup names in the School should start with the prefix ES-. This way, when campus-wide routing is available, all our groups will appear together in the Network Neighborhood window. If you have multiple machines in a research group, you can create your own appropriate research workgroup name, such as ES-Hydro or ES-Crustal. Otherwise, use the plain workgroup names ES-GES or ES-GP, depending upon your department.

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