Windows Server 2012 R2 Administrator Cookbook

Configuring a combination Domain Controller, DNS server, and DHCP server

The directory structure that Microsoft networks use to house their users and computer accounts is called Active Directory (AD), and the directory information is controlled and managed by Domain Controller (DC) servers. Two other server roles that almost always go hand in hand with Active Directory are DNS and DHCP, and in many networks these three roles are combined on each server where they reside. A lot of small businesses have always made due with a single server containing all three of these roles, but in recent years virtualization has become so easy that almost everyone runs at least two Domain Controllers, for redundancy purposes. And if you are going to have two DCs, ...