ENTERPRISE

Active Directory 2008 : Configuring Sites and Subnets (part 2) - Managing Domain Controllers in Sites, Understanding Domain Controller Location

9/24/2013 7:39:32 PM

4. Managing Domain Controllers in Sites

There may be times when you need to manage domain controllers in Active Directory sites:

  • You create a new site and move an existing domain controller to it.

  • You demote a domain controller.

  • You promote a new domain controller.

When you create your Active Directory forest, the first domain controller is automatically placed under the site object named Default-First-Site-Name. You can see the domain controller SERVER01.contoso.com in Figure 5. Additional domain controllers are added to sites based on their IP addresses. For example, if a server with IP address 10.1.1.17 is promoted to a domain controller in the network shown in Figure 4, the server is automatically added to the BRANCHA site, because the 10.1.1.0/24 subnet is associated with the BRANCHA site. Figure 5 shows SERVER02 in the BRANCHA site.

A domain controller in a site

Figure 5. A domain controller in a site

Each site contains a Servers container, which itself contains an object for each domain controller in the site. The Servers container in a site should show only domain controllers, not all servers. When you promote a new domain controller, the domain controller is, by default, placed in the site associated with its IP address. However, the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard allows you to specify another site. You can also pre-create the server object for the domain controller in the correct site by right-clicking the Servers container in the appropriate site, pointing to New, and then clicking Server.

Finally, you can move the domain controller to the correct site after installation by right-clicking the server and clicking Move. In the Move Server dialog box, select the new site and click OK. The domain controller is moved. It is a best practice to place a domain controller in the site object that is associated with the DC’s IP address. If a DC is multihomed, it can belong to only one site. If a site has no domain controllers, users can still log on to the domain; their logon requests are handled by a domain controller in an adjacent site or another domain controller in the domain.

To remove a domain controller object, right-click it and click Delete.

6. Understanding Domain Controller Location

You started this lesson by examining AD DS as a distributed service, providing authentication and directory access on more than one domain controller. You learned to identify where, in your network topology, to define sites and place domain controllers. Now you are ready to examine how, exactly, service localization works—how Active Directory clients become site aware and locate the domain controller in their site. Although this level of detail is unlikely to appear on the certification examination, it can be extremely helpful when you need to troubleshoot authentication of a computer or of a user.

Service Locator Records

When a domain controller is added to the domain, it advertises its services by creating Service Locator (SRV) records, also called locator records, in DNS. Unlike host records (A records), which map host names to IP addresses, SRV records map services to host names. The domain controller advertises its ability to provide authentication and directory access by registering Kerberos and LDAP SRV records. These SRV records are added to several folders within the DNS zones for the forest. The first folder is within the domain zone. It is called _tcp, and it contains the SRV records for all domain controllers in the domain. The second folder is specific to this site, in which the domain controller is located, with the path _sites\sitename\_tcp, where sitename is the name of the site. In Figure 6, you can see the Kerberos and LDAP SRV records for SERVER02.contoso.com in its site, _sites\BRANCHA\_tcp. You can also see the _tcp folder at the first level beneath the zone.

The same records are registered in several places in the _msdcs.domainName zone—for example, _msdcs.contoso.com in Figure 6. This zone contains records for Microsoft Domain Controller Services. The underscore characters are a requirement of RFC 2782.

The SRV records for SERVER02 in the BRANCHA site

Figure 6. The SRV records for SERVER02 in the BRANCHA site

Locator records contain:

  • The service name and port This portion of the SRV record indicates a service with a fixed port. It does not have to be a well-known port. SRV records in Windows Server 2008 R2 include LDAP (port 389), Kerberos (port 88), Kerberos Password protocol (KPASSWD, port 464), and GC services (port 3268).

  • Protocol TCP or UDP are indicated as a transport protocol for the service. The same service can use both protocols, in separate SRV records. Kerberos records, for example, are registered for both TCP and UDP. Microsoft clients use only TCP, but UNIX clients can use UDP.

  • Host name The name corresponds to the A (Host) record for the server hosting the service. When a client queries for a service, the DNS server returns the SRV record and associated A records, so the client does not need to submit a separate query to resolve the IP address of a service.

The service name in the SRV record follows the standard DNS hierarchy, with components separated by dots. For example, the Kerberos service of a domain controller is registered as:

kerberos._tcp.siteName._sites.domainName

Reading this SRV record name right to left like other DNS records, it translates to:

  • domainName: the domain or zone—for example, contoso.com

  • _sites: all sites registered with DNS

  • siteName: the site of the domain controller registering the service

  • _tcp: any TCP-based services in the site

  • kerberos: a Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) using TCP as its transport protocol

Domain Controller Location

Imagine that a Windows client has just been joined to the domain. It restarts, receives an IP address from a DHCP server, and is ready to authenticate to the domain. How does the client know where to find a domain controller?

It does not. Therefore, the client queries the domain for a domain controller by querying the _tcp folder, which, you’ll remember, contains the SRV records for all domain controllers in the domain. DNS returns a list of all matching DCs, and the client attempts to contact all of them on this, its first startup. The first domain controller that responds to the client examines the client’s IP address, cross-references that address with subnet objects, and informs the client of the site to which the client belongs. The client stores the site name in its registry, and then queries for domain controllers in the site-specific _tcp folder. DNS returns a list of all DCs in the site. The client attempts to bind with all, and the DC that responds first authenticates the client.

The client forms an affinity for this DC and will attempt to authenticate with the same DC in the future. If the DC is unavailable, the client queries the site’s _tcp folder again and attempts to bind with all DCs in the site. But what happens if the client is a mobile computer—a laptop? Imagine that the computer has been authenticating in the BRANCHA site, and then the user brings the computer to the BRANCHB site. When the computer starts up, it is assigned an IP address appropriate for the BRANCHB site by a DHCP server that services the site. The computer then attempts to authenticate with its preferred DC in the BRANCHA site. That DC notices the client’s IP address is associated with BRANCHB and informs the client of its new site. The client then queries DNS for domain controllers in BRANCHB.

You can see how, by storing subnet and site information in Active Directory and by registering services in DNS, a client is encouraged to use services in its site—the definition of service localization.

Site Coverage

What happens if a site has no domain controller? Sites can be used to direct users to local copies of replicated resources such as shared folders replicated within a DFS namespace, so you might have sites without a DC. In this case, a nearby domain controller registers its SRV records in the site in a process called site coverage. To be precise, a site without a DC is generally covered by a domain controller in a site with the lowest cost to the site requiring coverage. You learn more about site link costs in the next lesson. You can also manually configure site coverage and SRV record priority if you want to implement strict control over authentication in sites without DCs. The domain controller location URL just listed contains details about the algorithm that determines which DC automatically covers a site without a DC.

Practice Configuring Sites and Subnets

In this practice, you use best practices to implement a structure of sites and subnets for the contoso.com domain.

EXERCISE 1 Configure the Default Site

A new domain contains the Default-First-Site-Name site. In this exercise, you rename that site and associate two subnets with the site.

  1. Open the Active Directory Sites And Services snap-in.

  2. Expand Sites, right-click Default-First-Site-Name, and click Rename.

  3. Type HEADQUARTERS and press Enter.

    Because site names are registered in DNS, you should use DNS-compliant names that avoid special characters and spaces.

  4. Right-click Subnets and click New Subnet.

  5. In the Prefix box, type 10.0.0.0/24.

  6. In the Select A Site Object For This Prefix list, select HEADQUARTERS.

  7. Click OK.

  8. Right-click Subnets and click New Subnet.

  9. In the Prefix box, type 10.0.1.0/24.

  10. In the Select A Site Object For This Prefix list, select HEADQUARTERS.

  11. Click OK.

EXERCISE 2 Create an Additional Site

Sites allow you to manage replication traffic and localize services such as the authentication and directory access provided by domain controllers. In this exercise, you create a second site and associate a subnet with it.

  1. Open the Active Directory Sites And Services snap-in.

  2. Right-click Sites and click New Site.

  3. Type BRANCHA in the Name box.

  4. Select DEFAULTIPSITELINK.

  5. Click OK.

    An Active Directory Domain Services dialog box appears, explaining the steps required to complete the configuration of the site.

  6. Click OK.

  7. Right-click Subnets and click New Subnet.

  8. In the Prefix box, type 10.1.1.0/24.

  9. In the Select A Site Object For This Prefix list, select BRANCHA.

  10. Click OK.

  11. In the Active Directory Sites And Services snap-in, expand the Subnets node.

  12. Right-click 10.1.1.0/24 and click Properties.

  13. In the Description box, type Primary subnet for branch office.

  14. In the Site drop-down list, select BRANCHA.

  15. Click OK.

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