What minimum level of credentials are normally required to join a member server to the domain?

Question

I was installing Server2003 Std and Server2008 Std on hardware recently. When joining the servers to the domain during the install, I was asked for credentials.

I answered with the the DC's Admin user and password.

What minimum level of credentials are normally required to join a member server to a domain?

Answer 1

By default a domain user can add up to 10 computers to a domain. There is a way that administrators can restrict this default behavior to only allow Administrators to add computers to the domain, by using ADSI Edit.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/243327

Answer 2

"Add computers to domain" is not restricted to Domain Admins at all, that wouldn't be very good security. There is also no distinction between adding a workstation, or adding a member server.

This article describes some of the details.