I know this is probably a stupid question but I am trying to setup Active Directory and I dont wantthe Active Directorydomain open to the public. I have firewalls in places but would like to set it up right. Say the domain = company.com. I would want to make the domain forone location hq.company.com, the others br2.company.com and br3.company.com. Basicly hq, br2 and br3 are child domains to youngtrucks.com. I only have one server at the hq location and starting to build the network. And I didnt know if want I'm doing is possible or it was secure since my public domain is compay.com. I've taken all the server classes and they teacher were paranoid or fearedAD and I'm nowfeelingthe samebecause of it.

That's why you better could use a domain name followed by a .local extension eg.: mydomain.local and not .com. I've you don't want to rename your domain you need to setup a Split Brain DNS system. With kind regards, Peter

So I need to go the company.local route.Will that effect anything with Exchange in the future when I install it?So for the location say HQ, Br2 and Br3, how would I setup the locations then? By having HQ = company.local then br2.company.local and br3.company.local?

That's the best and most logical option. For Exchange it doesn't matter. You can still make use of @company.com as mail extension. Default will @company.local added to the user accounts for internal use. Altough you can add @company.com and set this as the default. you should considder the following: For HQ name the domain company.local Br2 become a child domain named Br2.company.local Br3 also a child domain named Br3.company.local Regards, Peter