Global Catalog and Flexible Global Catalog and Flexible Single Master OperationsSingle Master Operations

(FSMO) Roles (FSMO) RolesLesson 4

Skills MatrixSkills Matrix

Technology Skill Objective Domain Objective #

Configuring Additional Global Catalog Servers

Configure the global catalog

2.5

Placing FSMO Role Holders Configure operations masters

2.6

Global CatalogGlobal Catalog

• Critical component of Active Directory.

• Acts as a central repository by holding:– A complete copy of all objects from

the host server’s local domain.– A partial copy of all objects from other

domains within the same forest

• Used for logon, object searches, and universal group memberships.

Global CatalogGlobal Catalog• Global catalog placement considerations

include:– The speed and reliability of the WAN link.– The amount of traffic that will be generated by

replication.– The size of the global catalog database.

• When a user initiates a search for an object in Active Directory, the request is automatically sent to TCP port 3268.

• Global catalogs are identified with DNS through the SRV records (global catalog, or _gc, service).

Universal Group Membership CachingUniversal Group Membership Caching• Available with Windows Server 2003 and Windows

Server 2008.• Used for sites that do not have a global catalog

server available.• Stores universal group memberships on a local

domain controller that can be used for logon to the domain, eliminating the need for frequent access to a global catalog server.

• Allows domain controllers to process a logon or resource request without the presence of a global catalog server. – Assuming a user has successfully logged on

when a global catalog server was available and universal group membership caching was enabled.

Universal Group Membership CachingUniversal Group Membership Caching

• Enabled on a per-site basis. • By default, cache is refreshed every

eight hours.

Universal Group Membership CachingUniversal Group Membership Caching• It eliminates the need to place a global catalog in a

remote location where the link speed is slow or unreliable.

• It provides better logon performance for users with cached information.

• If the global catalog is located across a WAN link, cached credentials can replace the need to have logon traffic sent across a slow or unreliable link.

• It minimizes WAN usage for replication traffic because the domain controller does not have to hold information about forest-wide objects.

• In addition, these remote domain controllers are not listed in DNS as providers of global catalog services for the forest, further reducing bandwidth constraints.

Global Catalog and Universal Group Global Catalog and Universal Group CachingCaching

• If universal group caching is not available to record the user’s information into cache and the global catalog server goes offline, the logon attempt will fail.

Global CatalogGlobal Catalog

• By default, the first domain controller installed in the forest root domain is designated as a global catalog server.

• Any or all domain controllers in a domain can be designated as global catalog server.

Configuring an Additional Global Configuring an Additional Global Catalog ServerCatalog Server

• Use Active Directory Sites and Services from the Administrative Tools folder.

Enabling Universal Group Membership Enabling Universal Group Membership CachingCaching

• Use Active Directory Sites and Services.

Flexible Single Master Operations Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) Roles(FSMO) Roles

• To keep a tight control on certain sensitive or special operations, Active Directory uses Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) roles.– Relative Identifier Master.– Infrastructure Master.– Primary Domain Controller (PDC)

Emulator.– Domain Naming Master.– Schema Master.

Relative Identifier (RID) MasterRelative Identifier (RID) Master

• Domain specific (one per domain).• Responsible for assigning relative

identifiers to domain controllers in the domain.

• Relative identifiers are variable-length numbers assigned by a domain controller when a new object is created.

Infrastructure MasterInfrastructure Master

• Domain specific (one per domain).• Responsible for reference updates

from its domain objects to other domains. – Assists in tracking which domains

own which objects.

Primary Domain Controller (PDC) Primary Domain Controller (PDC) EmulatorEmulator• Domain specific (one per domain).• Provides backward compatibility with

Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 domains and other down-level clients.

• Manages account lockouts.• Manages time synchronization for the domain.• Managers password changes.

– When a password is changed, it provides immediate replication to other domain controllers in the domain.

• Managing edits to Group Policy Objects (GPOs)

Domain Naming MasterDomain Naming Master

• Forest specific (one per forest).• Has the authority to manage the

creation and deletion of domains, domain trees, and application data partitions in the forest. – When any of these is created, the

Domain Naming Master ensures that the name assigned is unique to the forest.

Schema MasterSchema Master

• Forest specific (one per forest).• Responsible for managing changes to

the Active Directory schema.

Flexible Single Master Operations Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) Roles(FSMO) Roles

• When you install the first domain controller in a new forest, that domain controller holds both of the forest-wide FSMOs as well as the three domain-wide FSMOs for the forest root domain.

Managing FSMO RolesManaging FSMO Roles

• Role transfer - Used to move a FSMO role gracefully from one domain controller to another.

• Role seizure - Used only when you have experienced a failure of a domain controller that holds a FSMO role and you forced an ungraceful transfer.

Viewing or transferring Domain-Wide Viewing or transferring Domain-Wide FSMO Role HoldersFSMO Role Holders• Open the Active

Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in.

• Right-click the Active Directory Users and Computers node, click All Tasks, and select Operations Masters.

Viewing or Transferring the Domain Naming Viewing or Transferring the Domain Naming Master FSMO Role HolderMaster FSMO Role Holder

• In Active Directory Domains and Trusts, right-click the Active Directory Domains and Trusts node and select Change Operations Master.

Viewing or Transferring the Schema Viewing or Transferring the Schema Master FSMO Role HolderMaster FSMO Role Holder

• Open the Active Directory Schema snap-in.

• Right-click Active Directory Schema from the console tree and select Change Operations Master.

• Remember that before you can access the Active Directory Schema snap-in, you need to register the schmmgmt.dll DLL file using the following syntax:

regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll

Seizing a FSMO RoleSeizing a FSMO Role

• Use the ntdsutil command to access the fmso maintenance prompt and use the seize command.

SummarySummary• The global catalog server acts as a

central repository for Active Directory by holding a complete copy of all objects within its local domain and a partial copy of all objects from other domains within the same forest.

• The global catalog has three main functions: the facilitation of searches for objects in the forest, resolution of UPN names, and provision of universal group membership information.

SummarySummary

• A global catalog should be placed in each site when possible. As an alternate solution when a site is across an unreliable WAN link, universal group membership caching can be enabled for the site to facilitate logon requests.

SummarySummary• Global catalog placement

considerations include the speed and reliability of the WAN link, the amount of traffic that will be generated by replication, the size of the global catalog database, and the applications that might require use of port 3268 for resolution.

• Operations master roles are assigned to domain controllers to perform single-master operations.

SummarySummary

• The Schema Master and Domain Naming Master roles are forest-wide. – Every forest must have one and only

one of each of these roles.

• The RID Master, PDC Emulator, and Infrastructure Master roles are domain-wide. – Every domain must have only one of

each of these roles.

SummarySummary

• The default placement of FSMO roles is sufficient for a single-site environment.– However, as your network expands,

these roles should be divided to increase performance and reliability.

SummarySummary• FSMO roles can be managed in two ways:

– Role transfer - Transfer a FSMO role to other domain controllers in the domain or forest to balance the load among domain controllers or to accommodate domain controller maintenance and hardware upgrades.

– Role seizure - Seize a FSMO role assignment when a server holding the role fails and you do not intend to restore it. • Seizing a FSMO role is a drastic step that

should be considered only if the current FSMO role holder will never be available again.

SummarySummary

• Use repadmin to check the status of the update sequence numbers (USNs) when seizing the FSMO role from the current role holder.

• Use ntdsutil to actually perform a seizure of the FSMO role.