- I wanted to know what would happen if I wanted to promote a domain
controller to become a GC when none are available
If no GC available no user logon allowed. Just make sure that you have at
least 1 Gc per site.
- I had a member server which I ran DC promo. Then I upgrade it to become a
GC, would it go out and probe the other domains to gather the information,
or look for the master GC?
I'm not sure that i understand this question, but but when you make a Dc a
Gc you're not upgrading anything, you're just setting up a flag so that
begins to accept replication, in a partition that already exists in all DCs.
And I never heard smothing like "MASTER GC" I think there isn't such thing.
Here are the basic Replication differences between DC-non Gc and DC-Gc:
A domain controller stores and replicates:
The schema partition data for a forest.
The configuration partition data for all domains in a forest.
The domain partition data (all directory objects and properties) for its
domain. This data is replicated to additional domain controllers in the
domain. For the purpose of finding information, a partial replica containing
commonly used attributes of all objects in the domain is replicated to the
global catalog.
A global catalog stores and replicates:
The schema partition data for a forest
The configuration partition data for all domains in a forest
A partial replica containing commonly used attributes for all directory
objects in the forest (replicated between global catalog servers only)
A full replica containing all attributes for all directory objects in the
domain in which the global catalog is located
as you can see the Gc contains partial replica containing commonly used
attributes for all directory objects in the forest, and this information is
provided by the Domain partition from every domain.
- Could all DC's in the root and child just all be GC's???
Yes.
Here it is some rules of the placement of Fsmo rules and Gcs:
- PDC Emulator and RID Master roles should be on the same machine because
the PDC Emulator is a large consumer of RIDs. (Since the PDC Emulator is the
role that does the most work by far of any FSMO role, if the machine holding
the PDC Emulator role is heavily utilized then move this role and the RID
Master role to a different DC, preferable not a global catalog server (GC)
since those are often heavily used also)
- The Infrastructure Master should not be placed on a GC. Make sure the
Infrastructure Master has a GC in the same site as a direct replication
partner. (It's OK to put the Infrastructure Master on a GC if your forest
has only one domain, It's OK to put the Infrastructure Master on a GC if
every DC in your forest has the GC)
- For simpler management, the Schema Master and Domain Naming Master can be
on the same machine, which should also be a GC.(If you've raised your forest
functional level to Windows Server 2003, the Domain Naming Master doesn't
need to be on a GC, but it should at least be a direct replication partner
with a GC in the same site)
