Create a domain

Create a domain

This topic shows you how to create a domain with Managed Service for Microsoft Active Directory.

Before you begin

1. Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.

2. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

   Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

   Go to project selector

3. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Cloud project. Learn how to check if billing is enabled on a project.

4. Enable the Managed Microsoft AD, Cloud DNS, and Compute Engine APIs.

   Enable the APIs

5. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

   Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

   Go to project selector

6. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Cloud project. Learn how to check if billing is enabled on a project.

7. Enable the Managed Microsoft AD, Cloud DNS, and Compute Engine APIs.

   Enable the APIs

8. Create a new Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network to deploy your domain to, or use an existing one. Legacy networks are not supported. Take note of your VPC network's full name. You need it for the domain creation process. It should match the following format: projects/PROJECT_ID/global/networks/VPC_NETWORK_NAME

Note: Be sure to enable the APIs and create the VPC in the same project where you enabled billing.

Gathering information

You need the following information to create your domain:

• A fully qualified domain name (FQDN); for example, ad.mycompany.com. Learn more about Microsoft's naming conventions in Active Directory.

• A private CIDR IP range not in use by any of the VPC's subnetworks; for example, 172.16.0.0/24, 192.168.0.0/24, or 10.1.0.0/24. Ideally, select a range not in use of any of the VPC subnetworks where the domain might be used. For more information, see Select IP address ranges.

• A region to deploy the domain controller to; for example, us-central1. Learn more about currently supported regions.

• A delegated administrator account username. You can define this username or use the default, setupadmin. Note that this username cannot be changed after domain creation.

• The complete name of the authorized VPC network. It should match the following format: projects/PROJECT_ID/global/networks/VPC_NETWORK_NAME

Creating the domain

After you complete the prerequisites and gather your domain information, you can create the domain.

Console

1. Go to the Managed Microsoft AD page in the Google Cloud console.
   Go to the Managed Microsoft AD page

2. Select Create New AD Domain.

3. On the Create new domain page, enter the information you gathered.

   • Enter the Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for your domain.
   • Under Network details, select your VPC network name from the list. Select OK.
   • Enter the CIDR Range for your domain controller.
   • Under Regions, select a region from the list to deploy the domain controller to.
   • Under Delegated Admin, you can enter an Admin name or use the default, setupadmin.
   Note: This is your only opportunity to change the username for the delegated administrator account. After domain creation, it cannot be changed.

4. Select Create domain.

It can take up to 60 minutes to create a domain. You'll receive a notification in Google Cloud console when the creation is finished.

gcloud

Run the following gcloud CLI command. Replace the placeholder variables with the information you gathered.

gcloud active-directory domains create FULLY_QUALIFIED_DOMAIN_NAME \
--reserved-ip-range=CIDR_RANGE --region=REGION \
--authorized-networks=projects/PROJECT_ID/global/networks/VPC_NETWORK_NAME

You receive the following response that indicates domain creation has started:

Create request issued for: FULLY_QUALIFIED_DOMAIN_NAME
Waiting for operation-1554140234884-5857b78a1a49e-02bc63a3-77e5c7ee to complete...

It can take up to 60 minutes to create a domain. The gcloud operation status updates when domain creation is complete.

Congratulations! You created a domain using Managed Service for Microsoft Active Directory. Note that you can repeat the process to create multiple independent domains in this same project.

What's next

• Join a Windows VM to a domain
• Join a Linux VM to a domain
• Connect to a Managed Microsoft AD domain