Some organizations have servers that are old or perhaps they just have a single server. This can pose a problem if they utilize an Active Directory environment. I have seen an organization have only one Domain Controller, which doubled as a file server, which was infected by Ransomware. Luckily, we were able to restore the server from a recent backup. However, not all organizations are lucky. Had there been a catastrophic hardware failure or no good backup, they would have had to rebuild their environment. Another alternative issue is organizations that have several branch offices and thus need a Domain Controller at every location.
Unfortunately, not all organizations can afford another physical server. One solution is to remove them entirely from Active Directory and place them into a workgroup. However, not all organizations want that. As such, another cost-effective solution needed to be found.
Enter the Intel NUC. They are fast, cheap, customizable, but really, they are cheap. Also, depending on the one you buy, they are compatible with Windows Server 2019. They are not ideal as a standalone domain controller, let me be clear on that (unless you operate a home lab). However, they are suitable for branch offices that are interconnected via VPN tunnels, and organizations that have a physical server in place but need redundancy.
Not all Intel NUCs are compatible with Windows Server and those that are pose their own challenges. Through testing, the best and most compatible NUC we have found is the NUC7i5DNHE (we prefer utilizing the Tall version). The NUC7i5DNHE can be customized with NVMe SSD or a traditional 2.5” SSD or HDD, with up to 32GB DDR4 Memory. Our usual build-out for clients is a 250 to a 1 TB 2.5” SSD and between 8 GB and 16 GB of memory. Regardless of the two options for SSD and memory, these things are fast. With Windows Server 2019 standard installed, we see full patch times, including boot times, to be within 5 minutes. Straight boot times usually fall inside 45 seconds.
Sounds good, right? So what issues have we found? Mainly driver support issues. With the NUC7i5DNHE, two drivers will not work out of the box (nor have we been successful in getting them to work, not that we put much effort into it anyway). The built in WiFi and Bluetooth drivers will not work. However, everything else installs perfectly with Windows Server 2019. We did have Ethernet issues working right with Windows Server 2012 R2, but there are drivers out there if you can find them to manually install via a USB drive. Windows Server 2016 on the other hand was a bit more complicated, so I would avoid that OS entirely if possible. Another note: BIOS updates through windows will not work, so it is best done to update the BIOS through the BIOS itself (which is fairly easy).
Keep in mind, we are using these only as a redundancy domain controller for smaller organizations or organizations with several branches. If one of these units die, it’s trivial and cost effective to order a replacement and have the redundancy restored in a day. Want an extra step of redundancy? Utilize an external HDD to do bare metal backups via Windows Server Backup (or another backup solution of your choice).
We have deployed nearly a dozen of these over the last year in different organizations and each seem to meet the needs of the clients nicely.
Dislike this idea or have questions? Let me know in the comments!