Domain Controller (McLaren Infrastructure)
Period: November 2025 - April 2026Written on April 2, 2026
Context
As part of a project involving three Formula 1 teams (Mercedes, McLaren, and Aston Martin), the objective was to pool technical data to enhance engine performance. Each team set up a similar IT infrastructure but with its own specificities and dedicated domain.
My role focused on the McLaren infrastructure, which was designed to host network monitoring tools, data backup solutions, an incident management system, and IP telephony. The entire environment was virtualized using Proxmox on HP server hardware.
To manage this organization, I implemented a central directory service based on Windows Server 2022. This involved creating a forest and a domain, as well as managing the internal DNS to ensure proper resolution for all McLaren services.
High availability and fault tolerance were key requirements for this infrastructure. To achieve this, I configured a second Windows Server 2022 and set up Active Directory and DNS replication between the two domain controllers.