W2003 Active Directory

[Topkapi]

I'm totally new to Windows 2003 server having had the bulk of experience with NT4 systems. I have set up an experimental W2003 network to help when the real situation arises. This network comprises a W2003 server and three XP Pro workstations. This is not connected to the Internet in any way as yet.

On configuring Active Directory the wizard has created a domain called "Medsurg.local" . I am not sure this will relate to the internet name if/when I do connect it to the internet and what I may have to change/adapt this when I do.
I can't find any reference to this in the documentation and would be most grateful if someone could enlighten me.

Many thanks in advance for any help

 

[bradbrooks]

You should be fine with the domain name of Medsurg.local. This will correspond to your local DNS domain of the same name. Microsoft recommends using the .local extension to distinguish your internal DNS domains from your external DNS domain. Your external DNS domain name will probably take the form of Medurg.com or Medsurg.org. You will simply need to forward requests that are not resolvable from the medsurg.local DNS domain or intended for the Internet to what ever your external DNS domain server happens to be.