Enterprise IT Infrastructure with Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, GPO & Client Domain Join – VMware

Project Overview

The purpose of this project was to deploy a small business IT infrastructure using Windows Server 2019/2022 and Windows 10 clients in a virtualized environment (VMware Workstation).

The goal is to implement a fully functional Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) environment, complete with DNS, DHCP, user accounts, Group Policy Objects (GPOs), and PowerShell automation.

Step 1 – Configure Windows Server

Goal: Prepare the server for domain controller promotion.
Actions:

  • Set static IP: 192.168.10.10

  • Subnet: 255.255.255.0 / Gateway: 192.168.10.1

  • DNS: 192.168.10.10

  • Rename PC to DC01

  • Enable Remote Desktop

  • Install VMware Tools

Step 2 – Promote Server to Domain Controller

Goal: Deploy Active Directory, DNS and DHCP.
Actions:

  • Open Server Manager ➜ Add roles:

    • ✅ AD DS

    • ✅ DNS Server

    • ✅ DHCP Server

  • Promote this server to a domain controller

  • Create new forest: entreprise.local

  • Reboot after promotion

Step 3 – Configure DHCP

Goal: Enable automatic IP assignment for clients.
Actions:

  • Open DHCP Manager

  • Create IPv4 scope:

    • Range: 192.168.10.100 – 192.168.10.200

    • DNS: 192.168.10.10

    • Gateway: 192.168.10.1

  • Authorize the DHCP server

  • Activate the scope

Step 4 – Configure DNS

Goal: Ensure name resolution in the domain.
Actions:

  • Open DNS Manager

  • Check that entreprise.local zone exists

  • Verify A record for DC01

  • Use nslookup entreprise.local to test

Step 5 – Create Organizational Unit + Users

Goal: Create AD structure for employees.
Actions:

  • Open ADUC

  • Create OU: Staff

  • Create users manually or via PowerShell:

for ($i=1; $i -le 5; $i++) { New-ADUser -Name "User$i" -SamAccountName "user$i" -AccountPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString "Passw0rd!" -AsPlainText -Force) -Enabled $true -Path "OU=Staff,DC=entreprise,DC=local" }

Step 6 – Create Client VM and Join Domain

Goal: Connect PC01 to entreprise.local domain.
Actions:

  • Create Windows 10 VM (same network)

  • Set DHCP IP

  • Rename to PC01

  • Join domain: entreprise.local

  • Use domain admin credentials

  • Reboot ➜ login as user1

Step 7 – Test and Validate Setup

Goal: Make sure all services are running properly.
Actions:

  • On PC01, run:

    • ipconfig /all ➜ confirm DHCP

    • nslookup entreprise.local ➜ confirm DNS

    • gpresult /r ➜ confirm GPO (for next project)

Project Supervision & Mentorship

This project was completed under the mentorship and supervision of:

• Eric Mulumba – Senior IT Specialist with 15+ years of expertise in system architecture and enterprise security.

• Elie William Mbayabo – Technical Support Engineer at Check Point Software Technologies, with professional experience in network security and IT operations.

Working under their guidance allowed me to strengthen my technical skills, apply industry best practices, and deliver a solution that reflects real-world enterprise standards.

Popular Projects

What is Cloud Computing ?

Cloud computing delivers computing resources (servers, storage, databases, networking, and software) over the internet, allowing businesses to scale and pay only for what they use, eliminating the need for physical infrastructure.

  • AWS: The most popular cloud platform, offering scalable compute, storage, AI/ML, and networking services.

  • Azure: A strong enterprise cloud with hybrid capabilities and deep Microsoft product integration.

  • Google Cloud (GCP): Known for data analytics, machine learning, and open-source support.