When managing a network of ~30 workstations with 2 terminal servers (production + standby), the AD question becomes particularly nuanced. Many sysadmins assume AD is mandatory, but let's examine real technical tradeoffs.

# Example PowerShell for manual user management
New-LocalUser -Name "jsmith" -Password (ConvertTo-SecureString "P@ssw0rd" -AsPlainText -Force)
Add-LocalGroupMember -Group "Remote Desktop Users" -Member "jsmith"

Without AD, you're manually handling:

• Centralized authentication (each machine maintains separate credentials)
• Group Policy management (replaced by manual registry edits or local policies)
• Security auditing (no unified event logs)
• Software deployment (manual installs or third-party tools)

Your terminal servers running independent corporate apps change the calculus. Consider this RDS configuration alternative:

# Sample RDS deployment without AD
Install-WindowsFeature RDS-RD-Server -IncludeManagementTools
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server" -Name "fSingleSessionPerUser" -Value 0

For shops resisting AD, evaluate:

1. Azure AD Hybrid (cloud-managed identities)
2. JumpCloud (directory-as-service)
3. Samba4 (AD-compatible open source)

Deploy AD if:

• Your corporate app integrates with LDAP/Kerberos
• You anticipate growth beyond 50 devices
• Compliance requires centralized auditing

An AD server adds ~4 hours/month maintenance:
- Patch Tuesday updates
- DNS/DHCP management
- Backup verification
But eliminates 10+ hours of manual user management.

When managing a network with ~30 endpoints and 2 terminal servers (production/standby), the AD deployment question becomes particularly nuanced. The core trade-off centers around administrative efficiency versus infrastructure complexity.

// Without AD (Manual approach)
foreach (Workstation ws in network) {
    ws.ConfigureFirewallRules();
    ws.DeploySoftwareUpdates();
    ws.ManageLocalUsers();
}

// With AD (Centralized management)
DomainController.ApplyGroupPolicy(
    target: "AllWorkstations", 
    policies: [FirewallConfig, UpdateSchedule, AuthSettings]
);

Real-world operational impacts:

• User provisioning time drops from 15-30 minutes per machine to 2 minutes domain-wide
• Security patches deploy simultaneously via WSUS instead of manual RDP sessions
• Terminal Server CAL management becomes automatic rather than per-device tracking

For your specific case, consider a single Server Core installation with these essential roles:

# PowerShell deployment snippet
Install-WindowsFeature -Name AD-Domain-Services -IncludeManagementTools
Install-ADDSDomainController -InstallDns -DomainName "corp.example.com"
Set-ADDefaultDomainPasswordPolicy -Identity "corp.example.com" -ComplexityEnabled $true

Even with standalone terminal servers, AD provides value:

# RD Gateway configuration with AD integration
New-RDSessionDeployment -ConnectionBroker "TS01.corp.example.com" -WebAccessServer "TS01.corp.example.com"
Set-RDClientAccessLicense -Mode "PerUser" -ConnectionBroker "TS01.corp.example.com"

Some shops achieve stability through alternative stacks:

# Example Ansible playbook for AD-less management
- hosts: workstations
  tasks:
    - name: Enforce local admin restrictions
      win_user_right:
        name: SeInteractiveLogonRight
        users: "BUILTIN\\Administrators"
        action: remove

Consider AD when: