Slow replication of changes

[Johnny Noitargim]

Hi All,

my setup is 4 hub sites, each hub site has 2 DCs/GCs and one E2k server.

The other day one of my support users needed to up the storage limit for a
mailbox, so he applied the change on one DC (close to the user) and the
change went into effect almost 2 hours later!

Can you let me know which part of replication takes care of this and how I
could speed it up

Thanks,

Johnny

 

[Cary Shultz [A.D. MVP]]

Johnny,

This is most likely normal!

There are two types of Active Directory replication: intrasite replication
and intersite replication. Intrasite replication is what happens between
Domain Controllers that are located in the same Site ( as set up by Active
Directory Sites and Services ). Intersite replication is the replication
that happens between Domain Controllers in different Sites.

Also, you need to ask yourself: what is replicating? Well, there are three
Naming Contexts, or Partitions, that replicate. The three are the Schema
NC, the Configuration NC and the Domain NC. The first two are Forest-wide
( meaning, they will replicate to each and every Domain Controller in the
forest.... ) while the Domain NC is Domain-wide ( meaning, it will replicate
to only those Domain Controllers in 'that' Domain ).

The default replication for intrasite is 15 minutes while the default
replication for intersite is 180 minutes ( or, three hours ).

--
Cary W. Shultz
Roanoke, VA 24012
Microsoft Active Directory MVP

http://www.activedirectory-win2000.com
http://www.grouppolicy-win2000.com

 

[Johnny Noitargim]

Thanks Cary,

only thing that does not sound normal is that all 6 of my DC's /GCs are on
the same site... That should surely make it intra shouldnt it?

Johnny

 

[Herb Martin]

From you first message:

my setup is 4 hub sites, each hub site has 2 DCs/GCs and one E2k server.

From your second:

only thing that does not sound normal is that all 6 of my DC's /GCs are on
the same site... That should surely make it intra shouldnt it?

When Cary suggested normal intersite replication after
your first message (4 sites with 2 DCs each) you then write
that you have all of your DCs in a single site. These are
inconsistent reports.

Not only is it unclear whether you have one or four sites, but
whether you have 6 or 8 DCs (2 x 4) <grin>

'Site' is a technical term in AD -- so if you have "locations"
that are not true sites then try to avoid the term site for them
when troubleshooting and discussing AD replication.

BTW, if you have multiple locations WITH DCs then they
should almost always be separate AD Sites and there is
almost no point in having a site without a DC there.

You must check AD Sites and Services if you don't know
whether it is intrasite or intersite -- check for the number of
(official) AD Sites and the location plus CORRECT subnet
for each site and each DC on that site.

You can view the Site Links (you created) there, and you
can view the connections created by the KCC as well.


--
Herb Martin, MCSE, MVP
Accelerated MCSE
http://www.LearnQuick.Com
[phone number on web site]

 

[Johnny Noitargim]

Herb,

that is why you should never type comment first thing in the morning...

The network does consist of 8 DCs and by sites I was referring to physical
sites /locations (different offices). As these 4 offices link to each other
with 10 or 100 MB links they were initially all put into the same AD site. I
am currently looking into seperating these 4 physical sites into separate AD
sites.

This still does not answer my slowness Q though...

Many thanks,

Johhny

From you first message:

my setup is 4 hub sites, each hub site has 2 DCs/GCs and one E2k server.

From your second:

only thing that does not sound normal is that all 6 of my DC's /GCs are on
the same site... That should surely make it intra shouldnt it?

When Cary suggested normal intersite replication after
your first message (4 sites with 2 DCs each) you then write
that you have all of your DCs in a single site. These are
inconsistent reports.

Not only is it unclear whether you have one or four sites, but
whether you have 6 or 8 DCs (2 x 4) <grin>

'Site' is a technical term in AD -- so if you have "locations"
that are not true sites then try to avoid the term site for them
when troubleshooting and discussing AD replication.

BTW, if you have multiple locations WITH DCs then they
should almost always be separate AD Sites and there is
almost no point in having a site without a DC there.

You must check AD Sites and Services if you don't know
whether it is intrasite or intersite -- check for the number of
(official) AD Sites and the location plus CORRECT subnet
for each site and each DC on that site.

You can view the Site Links (you created) there, and you
can view the connections created by the KCC as well.


--
Herb Martin, MCSE, MVP
Accelerated MCSE
http://www.LearnQuick.Com
[phone number on web site]

Thanks Cary,


Johnny


for how

 

[Herb Martin]

Herb,

that is why you should never type comment first thing in the morning...

The network does consist of 8 DCs and by sites I was referring to physical
sites /locations (different offices). As these 4 offices link to each other
with 10 or 100 MB links they were initially all put into the same AD site. I
am currently looking into seperating these 4 physical sites into separate AD
sites.

You almost certainly should. Are the DCs already physically
distributed to the various locations?

Sites really are NOT about the "speed of the line" but almost
always about "controlling replication across a WAN".

If it looks like a WAN it is probably multiple sites (ideally.)

This still does not answer my slowness Q though...

Such slowness is probably (almost always) a DNS problem:

Check DNS for AD
1) Dynamic for the zone supporting AD
2) All internal DNS clients NIC\IP properties must specify SOLELY
that internal, dynamic DNS server (set.)
3) DCs and even DNS servers are DNS clients too -- see #2
4) If you have more than one Domain, every DNS server must
be able to resolve ALL domains (either directly or indirectly)

netdiag /fix

....or maybe:

dcdiag /fix

(Win2003 can do this from Support tools):
nltest /dsregdns /serverC-ServerNameGoesHere
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q260371/

Ensure that DNS zones/domains are fully replicated to all DNS
servers for that (internal) zone/domain.

Also useful may be running DCDiag on each DC, sending the
output to a text file, and searching for FAIL, ERROR, WARN.

Single Label domain zone names are a problem Google:
[ "SINGLE LABEL" domain names DNS 2000 | 2003 microsoft: ]

--
Herb Martin, MCSE, MVP
Accelerated MCSE
http://www.LearnQuick.Com
[phone number on web site]

Many thanks,

Johhny

From you first message: server.

From your second:

are

on

the same site... That should surely make it intra shouldnt it?

When Cary suggested normal intersite replication after
your first message (4 sites with 2 DCs each) you then write
that you have all of your DCs in a single site. These are
inconsistent reports.

Not only is it unclear whether you have one or four sites, but
whether you have 6 or 8 DCs (2 x 4) <grin>

'Site' is a technical term in AD -- so if you have "locations"
that are not true sites then try to avoid the term site for them
when troubleshooting and discussing AD replication.

BTW, if you have multiple locations WITH DCs then they
should almost always be separate AD Sites and there is
almost no point in having a site without a DC there.

You must check AD Sites and Services if you don't know
whether it is intrasite or intersite -- check for the number of
(official) AD Sites and the location plus CORRECT subnet
for each site and each DC on that site.

You can view the Site Links (you created) there, and you
can view the connections created by the KCC as well.


--
Herb Martin, MCSE, MVP
Accelerated MCSE
http://www.LearnQuick.Com
[phone number on web site]

Thanks Cary,


Johnny


Johnny,

This is most likely normal!

There are two types of Active Directory replication: intrasite replication
and intersite replication. Intrasite replication is what happens between
Domain Controllers that are located in the same Site ( as set up by Active
Directory Sites and Services ). Intersite replication is the replication
that happens between Domain Controllers in different Sites.

Also, you need to ask yourself: what is replicating? Well, there are
three
Naming Contexts, or Partitions, that replicate. The three are the Schema
NC, the Configuration NC and the Domain NC. The first two are Forest-wide
( meaning, they will replicate to each and every Domain Controller

in
the

forest.... ) while the Domain NC is Domain-wide ( meaning, it will
replicate
to only those Domain Controllers in 'that' Domain ).

The default replication for intrasite is 15 minutes while the default
replication for intersite is 180 minutes ( or, three hours ).

--
Cary W. Shultz
Roanoke, VA 24012
Microsoft Active Directory MVP

http://www.activedirectory-win2000.com
http://www.grouppolicy-win2000.com



Hi All,

my setup is 4 hub sites, each hub site has 2 DCs/GCs and one E2k server.

The other day one of my support users needed to up the storage

limit
for

a
mailbox, so he applied the change on one DC (close to the user)

and
the

change went into effect almost 2 hours later!

Can you let me know which part of replication takes care of this

and
how

I
could speed it up

Thanks,

Johnny