Ciberjohn's

If you have a computer that you want to join a domain and the computer is connected via VPN you need to take the following steps:

1. Connect your site to site VPN.
2. Configure your VPN appliance to use the targeted domains IP as the DNS
3. Join the domain form the computer properties the usual way except, instead of using the pre-2000 domain name ie “Domain”, you need to use the fully qualified name ie “MyDomain.local”

Now if newly joined PC is on a different subnet than you Domain Controller (most likely it will) you will need to do this in order to access internal servers/PCs via a remote connection by name:

Go to <root system Dir>\System32\Drivers\etc\    Look for the file name “hosts” and edit it in order to map your Servers/PCs name and IP address.

Keep in mind if you join your PC to a domain while at the domain site and not thru VPN, then take it offsite, you will not need to do these last steps.