During the promotion of a server to domain controller, DCPromo (the
wizard used for the promotion process) determines the site the domain
controller will become a member of. If the domain controller being
created is the first in a new forest, a default site named
"Default-First-Site-Name" is created and the domain controller
becomes a member of this site until appropriate subnets and sites are
configured.
An administrator can (and should) create sites in order to
effectively use the bandwidth of Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide
Area Network (WAN) connections. After the administrator has created
sites and associated subnets with those sites, subsequent domain
controller promotions are placed into the appropriate sites
automatically. During server promotion, DCPromo queries the domain
controller that is acting as the source server for site data. If the
IP address of the server being promoted falls within the range for a
given subnet defined in the Active Directory, DCPromo configures the
membership of the domain controller in the site associated with that
subnet.
If no subnet objects are defined or the IP address of the server does
not fall within the range of the subnet objects present in the Active
Directory, the server is placed in the "Default-First-Site-Name" site.
A domain controller's membership is determined automatically only
when it is promoted. If the domain controller is moved from one site
to another, the administrator must use the Active Directory Sites and
Services manager to move the domain controller's server object to the
new site.
318480 HOW TO: Create and Configure an Active Directory Site in
Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=318480
Tom Ausburne (MSFT)
Windows 2000 Directory Services
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
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