I run a small start-up with 3 people working in 3 workstations (running Windows Vista/7) and a server running Windows Server 2008. Oh, I almost forgot… we also have a linux server (inside a VM hosted in the Windows Server 2008 server).
As we are just a few people with just a few nodes, we use a workgroup network model to avoid the configuration burden of a domain model.
- Is the workgroup model right for us?
- Should the number of users/nodes be the only factor to consider? I guess not. So, what other factos should we consider?
- If those other factos point to a workgroup model, but the network becomes to big. How big should it be (in terms of users and nodes) in order to migrate to a domain model an take advantage of its benefits?
Best Answer
For 3 computers? Sure, I might have looked at using a Linux box or Windows Home Server instead of Server 2008 to save on licensing costs, but for 3 users the need for a domain is most likely very low.
The number of users matters only indirectly. Usually you want a domain, when you need features you can only use with domain. Like Group Policies, Exchange, and so on. Lots of windows server functionality and MS Servers only work well in a domain environment. But for a really small number of users it is very rare to actually need those features.
You will want to switch to a domain when you need to use a feature that can only be used on a domain. If you want some redundancy for that 2008 server you will want a domain. If you want Exchange you will want a domain. If you want users to be able to work from any computer instead of an assigned you may need a domain.
If you think you will be growing a lot, or think you will need some feature that only works in a domain in the future you may want to enable a domain now to save having to change things on your computers later.