Domain preparation is the final step in preparing Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) for Office Communications Server 2007 R2. You can perform domain preparation on any computer in the domain where you are deploying Office Communications Server. You must prepare every domain that will host Office Communications Servers or users.

If permissions inheritance is disabled or authenticated user permissions are disabled in your organization, you must perform additional steps during domain preparation. For details, see Preparing a Locked Down Active Directory Domain Services.

Tip:
For details about the access control entries (ACEs) created on the domain root and in the Users, Computers, and Domain Controllers containers, see Changes Made by Domain Preparation.
Important:
If you are currently using Office Communications Server 2007 and the domain preparation for Office Communications Server 2007 R2 fails, the rollback might remove access control lists (ACLs) that are required for Office Communications Server 2007 to work properly. If this problem occurs, run Office Communications Server 2007 domain preparation again to restore the missing ACLs, and then run domain preparation for Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

To prepare the domain

  1. Log on to any server in the domain as a member of the DomainAdmins group.

  2. From the Office Communications Server installation folder or CD, run SetupEE.exe (for Enterprise Edition server consolidated configuration) or SetupSE.exe (for Standard Edition server) to start the deployment tool.

  3. Click Prepare Environment.

  4. Click Prepare Active Directory.

  5. At Prep Current Domain, click Run.

  6. On the Welcome to the Domain Preparation Wizardpage, click Next.

  7. On the Domain Preparation Informationpage, review the information, and then click Next.

  8. On the Ready to Prepare Domainpage, verify your current settings, and then click Next.

  9. On the Domain Preparation Wizard has completedpage, click View Log.

  10. Under the Actioncolumn, expand Domain Prep, look for <Success>Execution Result at the end of each task to verify that domain preparation completed successfully, close the log window, and then click Finish.

  11. Wait for Active Directory replication to complete or force replication to all the domain controllers listed in the Active Directory Sites and Servicessnap-in for the forest root domain controller.