Which Windows 2003 Server roles can be run together on the same machine?
Hi, I'm doing some research on Windows Server 2003 and I needed to find out which server roles can co-exist together on the same machine, and which ones cannot coexist. Is there a resource out there already covering this?
September 17th, 2010 11:02am

Well everything can pretty much coexist but there are some services that should not be installed on the same server because of security and functionality reasons. Like Active Directory should not be installed on a Terminal Server or VPN server but many people do.
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September 17th, 2010 11:24am

for lab, non production, or testing purposes, you can run as many features as you want. Realistically, you would want to follow the "Best Practices" guides, and take a few design/security courses.
September 17th, 2010 12:28pm

I don't know of a co-exist matrix for everything so you need to look at what roles you want in your domain and research from there.
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September 17th, 2010 1:10pm

Hi, Although you can install all the Windows Server 2003 roles on the same machine for test purpose, we do not recommend to install the server roles together in the production environment with the following situation: 1. High network and system resource load server roles. For example, Mail server uses high I/O transport. It does not recommended to install together with other data based roles, such as SQL server. 2. Security and no-security server roles. For example, ISA server is a firewall role which closes many ports. It is not recommended to install on a domain controller. Because domain controller needs communicates with many ports open. 3. Special server roles. For example, edge server acts as a block for the company. It is vulnerable and should be independent. According to the minimum rule, you may combine some server roles on the same machine, such as DHCP and DNS server roles. In a test environment, you may install all the Windows Server 2003 roles on the same machine. Regards,Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
September 20th, 2010 5:09am

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