Global catalog question 1

[BBGCORP]

Does anyone know what the recomendation is for the number of global catalogs in domain? Can you have multiple, or should you only have 1?

 

[Seaspray0]

I would recommend atleast 2 in your forest for redundancy, preferably one on a domain controller at every site (part of your forest). Here's what microsoft help says...

Access to a global catalog is required for successful logon attempts. A global catalog is necessary to determine group memberships during the logon process. If your network has any slow or unreliable links, enable at least one global catalog on each side of the link for maximum availability and fault tolerance.



Start, Help. You'll be surprised what's there. A+/MCP/MCSE/MCDBA

 

[58sniper]

A good rule of thumb is to make each DC a GC, plus, as Seaspray0 mentions, one at each site. Somethimes, that will be the same if you have a DC at each site.

Pat Richard, MCSE(2) MCSA:Messaging, CNA(2)

 

[ScottCr]

Except the Infrastructure Master

http://scottcross.blogspot.com

Windows and NT Admin.

 

[porkchopexpress]

http://msmvps.com/blogs/ulfbsimonweidner/archive/2005/03/08/37975.aspx

 

[Seaspray0]

The infrastructure master is another story. Its placement becomes a concern if you have multiple domains in a forest.

Start, Help. You'll be surprised what's there. A+/MCP/MCSE/MCDBA

 

[BBGCORP]

Thanks for all the responses. Microsoft tech support had given me bogus information and really screwed things up at my site. They instructed me that you should only have 1 GC in each domain, so I demoted any other GC's and wow...did things really get FUBAR'd. I changed everything back, and thanks to your responses, have the situation clarified.