Windows Server Connected to Domain Without Being Domain Controller

Posted by saluce on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by saluce
Published on 2012-09-18T19:46:13Z Indexed on 2012/09/18 21:40 UTC
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Filed under:

active-directory

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windows-server-2008-r2

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domain-controller

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windows-server-2012

Can a Windows Server be connected to an Active Directory domain without being a domain controller? Here's the scenario:

I want to use Windows Server 2012 to run several virtual machines for testing our web application in a variety of environments. We have a corporate domain, and I'd like to use the corporate login (or at least a common login) on each of the virtual machines without necessarily having to get IT to set up each virtual machine on the corporate domain. Also, I need the server itself to be able to authenticate domain logins (the app uses domain login information for users to login). However, I absolutely do NOT want it to be a DC on the corporate network.

Thus, my questions:

Can a Windows Server be connected to an Active Directory domain without being a DC?
Can a Windows Server authenticate users on another domain without being a part of that domain?
Can a Windows Server be a domain controller in a small network (comprised of just the server and itself) and use the corporate domain's Active Directory for authenticating user logins to the server, the web app, and the virtual machines?

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