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Published
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February 17, 2008 |
Last Updated |
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February 17, 2008 |
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Introduction |
In a
previous article,
we have set up our first Active Directory Domain
Services (AD DS) using Windows Server 2008. In this
article, we are going to see how to set up an
Additional Domain Controller for AD DS replication.
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To set up an Additional Domain Controller, I will use
the dcpromo.exe command.
- To use the command, click on
Start
> Run > and then write dcpromo
> Click OK

- The system will start checking if Active Directory
Domain Services ( AD DS) binaries are installed, then
will start installing them. The binaries could be
installed if you had run the dcpromo command previously
and then canceled the operation
after the binaries were installed.

-
The Active
Directory Domain
Services Installation Wizard will start, either
enable the checkbox beside Use Advanced mode
installation and Click Next ,
or keep it unselected and click on
Next

The following table lists the
additional wizard pages that appear for each deployment
configuration when you select the Use advanced mode
installation check box.
Deployment configuration
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Advanced mode installation wizard pages
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New forest
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Domain NetBIOS name
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New domain in an existing forest
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On the
Choose a Deployment Configuration
page, the option to create a new domain tree
appears only in advanced mode installation.
Domain NetBIOS name
Source Domain Controller
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Additional domain controller in an existing
domain
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Install from Media
Source Domain Controller
Specify Password Replication Policy (for RODC
installation only)
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Create an account for a read-only domain
controller (RODC) installation
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Specify Password Replication Policy
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Attach a server to an account for an RODC
installation
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Install from Media
Source Domain Controller
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- The Operating System Compatibility
page will be displayed, take a moment to read it and
click Next

- On the Choose a
Deployment Configuration page,
click
Existing forest, click
Add a
domain controller to an existing domain,
and then click
Next.

-
On the
Network Credentials
page, type your domain name, my domain name is elmajdal.net
( was set in the
previous article
) , so I will type elmajdal.net.

- To set
up
an Additional Domain Controller, you will need an
account that must be either a member of the
Enterprise Admins group or the Domain Admins group. We have two options:
- My Current logged on credentials ( DomainName\Username or
MachineName\Username)
- Alternate credentials
- If you have previously joined this server to the
domain and you are currently logged in to it with an
Enterprise Admin/Domain
Admin user, then you can use the first option
(My current logged on credentials) . As you can see
this option is grayed here, and the reason for this
is below it. It is because I'm currently logged in
with a local user, the machine is not a domain
member. I'm left out with the second option:
Alternate credentials
- To enter the
Alternate credentials, click
Set. In the
Windows
Security dialog box,
enter the user name and password for an account
that must be either a member of the
Enterprise Admins group or the Domain Admins group >
then click
Next.


If you have entered a wrong username/password , you
will receive the following error message

- On the
Select a Domain page,
select the domain of the Additional Domain
Controller, and then click
Next, as I already have
only one domain, then it will be selected by
default.

- On the
Select a Site page,
either enable the checkbox beside Use the
site that corresponds to the IP address of this
computer, this will install the domain
controller in the site that corresponds to its IP
address, or select a site from the list and then
click
Next.
If you only
have one domain controller and one site, then you
will have the first option grayed and the site will
be selected by default as shown in the following image

-
On the
Additional Domain
Controller Options page, By
default, the DNS Server and Global Catalog
checkboxes are selected. You can also select your
additional domain controller to be a Read-only
Domain Controller (RODC) by selecting the checkbox
beside it.
My primary domain controller is a DNS Server is
well, and this can be verified by reading the
additional information written in the below image,
that there is currently 1 DNS server that is
registered as an authoritative name server for this
domain. I do want my Additional DC to be a DNS
server and a Global catalog, so I will keep the
checkboxes selected. Click Next

-
If you select the option to
install DNS server in the previous step, then you
will receive a message that indicates a DNS
delegation for the DNS server could not be created
and that you should manually create a DNS delegation
to the DNS server to ensure reliable name
resolution. If you are installing an additional
domain controller in either the forest root domain
(or a tree root domain) , you do not need to create
the DNS delegation. In this case, you can safely
ignore the message and click
Yes.

-
In the
Install from Media page
( will be displayed if you have selected
Use advanced mode
installation on the Welcome page,
if you didn't select it, then skip to step # 15),
you can choose to either replicate data over the
network from an existing domain controller, or
specify the location of installation media to be
used to create the domain controller and configure
AD DS. I want to replicate data over the
network, so I will choose the first option > click
Next

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On the Source Domain
Controller page of the Active Directory Domain
Services Installation Wizard, you can select which
domain controller will be used as a source for data
that must be replicated during installation, or you
can have the wizard select which domain controller
will be used as the source for this data. You have
two options :
-
Let the
wizard choose an appropriate domain controller
-
Use this specific domain
controller

If you want to choose from the list, any domain
controller can be the installation partner. However,
the following restrictions apply to the domain
controllers that can be used as an installation
partner in other situations:
- A read-only domain controller (RODC) can
never be an installation partner.
- If you are installing an RODC, only a
writable domain controller that runs Windows
Server 2008 can be an installation partner.
- If you are installing an additional domain
controller for an existing domain, only a domain
controller for that domain can be an
installation partner.
- Now you will have to specify the location where the domain
controller database, log files and SYSVOL are stored on
the server.
The database stores information about the users,
computers and other objects on the network. the log
files record activities that are related to AD DS, such
information about an object being updated. SYSVOL stores
Group Policy objects and scripts. By default, SYSVOL is
part of the operating system files in the Windows
directory
Either type or browse to the volume and folder where you
want to store each, or accept the defaults and click on
Next

Note :
Windows Server Backup backs up the
directory service by volume. For backup
and recovery efficiency, store these
files on separate volumes that do not
contain applications or other
nondirectory files.
In the
Directory Services Restore Mode Administrator
Password (DSRM) page, write
a password and confirm it. This password is used when
the domain controller is started in Directory
Services Restore Mode, which might be because
Active Directory Domain Services is not running, or
for tasks that must be performed offline.

Make sure the password meet the password
complexity requirements of the password policy, that is
a password that contains a combination of uppercase and
lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. else you will
receive the following message :

Summary page will be displayed showing you all the
setting that you have set . It gives you the option to
export the setting you have setup into an answer file
for use to automate subsequent AD DS operations, if you wish to
have such file, click on the Export settings
button and save the file. Then click
Next to begin AD DS installation

Active Directory Domain Services
installation
will be completed, click Finish, then
click on Restart Now to restart your server for the
changes to take effect.

- Open
Active
Directory Users & Computers, and then
click on the Domain Controllers
Organizational Unit, and you will see your
Additional Domain Controller along with your Primary
Domain Controller.

Summary
Additional domain controllers
improve the performance of authentication requests and
global catalog server lookups. They also help
Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) overcome
hardware, software, or administrator errors. When you
add a domain controller, information is replicated over
the network.
Related Articles
Unattended Installation of Active Directory Domain Services
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