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Default domain controller in Active Directory

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tmunson99

MIS
Jun 18, 2004
62
US
We have a network with 15-20 domain controllers. Is there a setting somewhere in Active Directory Users and Computers where I can default the domain controller I connect to when I open AD? It's completely random which domain controller I'm connected to when I open AD. I realize changes eventually propogate throughout the network of course, but for speed, I'd prefer a domain controller on my subnet as the default. Thanks!
 
Why do you have 15-20 domain controllers? How large is your company? With 15-20, I would expect your company to have 100,000 employees. Or 14-19 sites.

There's no need for almost ANY business to have more than 2 DCs per site. And in most cases, 1 DC in all but your primary site is sufficient. You can then use Sites and Services to define sites and in turn, this will set preferences as to which DCs to use.
 
Yes, we have 20+ sites across the country. My original question was not whether our network was set up correctly but whether I, as one of many IT support people, could easily control which domain controller my Active Directory console automatically connects to.
 
That's fine - but some people think everything should be a domain controller and without an explanation, how am I to know if you're not one of them?

As I said, setup Sites and services (with a network that large, I'm surprised you haven't already)
 
Is this something I can do from my MMC? I'm an application administrator not a network administrator so I'm probably not phrasing my question correctly. I definitely don't want to do something that would affect the whole network. I just want my MMC to default to a particular domain controller when I open it so it runs faster. (I looked at Sites and Services and they are set up.)
 
Oh, that's what you're looking for - I'll have to research that some - maybe someone else has an idea.
 
type dsa.msc /server=server1.domain1

where server1.domain1 are your server and domain names
 
select the server you want and save your mmc....?
All the best!

:--------------------------------------:
fugitive.gif


All around in my home town,
They tryin' to track me down...
 
dsa.msc /server=server1.domain1 is EXACTLY what I was looking for. I created a shortcut and it works perfectly. Thank you very much.
 
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