steps to accomplish windows domain consolidation 2

[winetech]

We have four windows domain controller servers. All are windows 2003 except one is windows 2000. One server per each of our four site locations. We would like to have one primary domain controller and keep the rest as secondaries. I would like replication between all in case one crashes another can take over. All of our sites are connected through an MPLS dedicated network with one site being the gateway to our internet for the entire company. Each of our sites do have a backup internet (low bandwidth) for fail over but only used if the primary goes out.

My question is does anyone know of any documentation I can read on to get some kind of checklist or steps to get this accomplished. Should we buy a new DC sever to use as the primary and use the four as the secondaries or should we just make one of the existing DC servers the primary.
What would be the requirements for the primary DC and secondaries as far as resources, software and network infrastructure?

 

[pagy]

There is no primary or secondary DC concept with windows 2000 and 2003. Are all these DCs part of the same domain at the moment or do you mean each site has it's own domain??

Paul
MCSE


"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
Albert Einstein

 

[Helenp1983]

pagy is corret! there is no primary and secondry, when researching on the internet many sites do not make it clear that primary and secondry was when DC where windows nt.

In windows 2003, although there is no boss/primary DC


There are roles that are unique and are only on one box.


How to view and transfer FSMO roles in Windows Server 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324801

In windows 2008 you will be able to have read-only domain controllers

 

[winetech]

Each DC is in its own domain so each has a different domain name

 

[Clowntrigger]

If you have 4 dc's that are in separate domains, I don't think they can back each other up. Each domain will have it's own AD. If they were all in the same domain, then you can set each to be a global catalog (to process user logins) and they will automatically replicate with each other.

 

[reynolwi]

one thought and someone else might correct me on this, but you should think about reorganizing and going with one main domain and the remote sites can be child domains or the parent.

The easiest way is to setup them all on 1 domain and make each a dc/gc and assign them to seperate sites in AD Sites and Services. Thats how i have our enterprise setup. We have 2 AD servers that are dc/gc for each site and i have each assigned to a seperate site so those clients know what dc to communicate with first. The main corporate site dc holds all the FSMO roles so its theoretically primary.

Wm. Reynolds
RRWDS | TxPSS

http://www.rrwds.com

http://www.txpubsafety.com

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[winetech]

oh i c
Is it possible to replicate the AD's to each DC in case one server goes down the others will be available.

What about file replication in case one DC goes down the other DC will have the files replicated or mirrored for users to continue accessing their network files.

 

[Clowntrigger]

If all your DC's are in the same domain, it will replicate AD between them, even in different sites.

For file replication, it will replicate files in the sysvol share, but will not replicate other shares. You would need to manually update the users drive mappings and you would need to automate the replication of those shares. The sysvol share is intended for sharing system files such as login scripts.

 

[pagy]

If you do want to go to having one domain across the 4 sites think about using the active directory migration tool (ADMT) to migrate things like users, computers etc.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...70-3BBB-4B9E-A8BC-01E9F7EF7342&displaylang=en

You should also read up on using active directory sites and services;

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...rectory/activedirectory/stepbystep/adsrv.mspx

and perhaps some reading on active directory;

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/directory/activedirectory/default.mspx

All in all consolidating your 4 domains into 1 is quite a bit of work but at the end of it you only have to administer 1 system instead of 4!!!!



Paul
MCSE


"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
Albert Einstein