Setting Up Domain Administrator Account

After you have created and configured the Active Directory domain, you should make a domain administrator account. You will need this account in the next step when adding the nodes to the domain.

To set up a domain administrator account, you should:

• create a new user on the domain controller;
• include the newly created user in the Domain Admins group.

First, you should create a new user account on the domain controller. To this effect, complete the following tasks:

1. Log in to the domain controller.
2. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and click Active Directory Users and Computers.
3. In the left pane of the Active Directory Users and Computers window, expand the contents of the newly created Active Directory domain (in our case it is mycompany.local).
4. Right-click the Users folder, point to New, and select User.
5. In the New Object - User window, do the following:
   • Type your first and last names in the First name and Last name fields, respectively.
   • In the User logon name field, type a name that will be used to log on to the Active Directory domain. For example:
     
   After providing the necessary information, click Next.
6. Specify an arbitrary password for the domain administrator account and click Next.
   
7. The last window allows you to review the parameters provided by on the previous steps. If you wish to modify any parameters, click Back; otherwise, click Finish to create the domain administrator account.

Now you should include the newly created account in the Domain Admins group, which will allow this account to perform administrative tasks in the domain context. To this effect, do the following:

1. In the Active Directory Users and Computers window (Start --> Administrative Tools --> Active Directory Users and Computers), right-click the created user account and select Properties.
2. Select the Member Of tab and click Add.
3. In the Select Groups dialog box, type Domain Admins and click OK.
   
4. Click OK.