How do I join my CIFS server in an environment with a disjointed name space?

First off, what is a disjointed name space? From the Microsoft TechNet website, “A disjoint namespace occurs when one or more domain member computers have a primary Domain Name Service (DNS) suffix that does not match the DNS name of the Active Directory domain of which the computers are members. For example, a member computer that uses a primary DNS suffix of corp.fabrikam.com in an Active Directory domain named na.corp.fabrikam.com is using a disjoint namespace.”

In order to join a CIFS server to a MS AD domain that is in a disjointed name space, you must follow the following procedures:

.

Create the CIFS server:

server_cifs -add compname= . ,domain= =

Join CIFS server to Domain:

server_cifs -Join compname= . ,domain= ,admin=

Where ‘compname’ is the FQDN of the CIFS server and ‘domain’ is the Microsoft Active Directory name.

Please refer to the appropriate OS version CLI reference manual for more information on the specific options. Depending on your domain configuration, after the successful AD join, a Service Principle Name (SPN) may have to be created in AD to ensure that both the FQDN and AD name for the CIFS server are registered in Active Directory.