AD in multiple locations

[Paul Edwards]

We have 2 office that are networked together running a AD domain.

We have 3 other offices that are all stand alone (not networked together).
I am going to be installing a win2k server in each office and will config
them as seperate domains (since thay are not networked).

If, down the road we get these 3 offices networked to are 2 main offices
will I have any trouble incorporating the 3 servers from the offices into
the AD network at the main offices.

Thanks

 

[suggestion]

You shouldn't have a problem. But you have to decide if
they're gonna to be a Forest joining a Existing Forest or
a child domain of a Existing Forest, etc. Things you need
to consider before going any further. Are the 2 office
under one domain?

 

[Paul Edwards]

Yes, the 2 offices that are connected are under the same AD Domain.

Is there anything specific I should do when configuring the 3 remote servers
to make it easier when these servers will be added to our main domain.

Thanks

 

[Cary Shultz [MVP]]

-----Original Message-----
We have 2 office that are networked together running a AD domain.

We have 3 other offices that are all stand alone (not networked together).
I am going to be installing a win2k server in each office and will config
them as seperate domains (since thay are not networked).

If, down the road we get these 3 offices networked to are 2 main offices
will I have any trouble incorporating the 3 servers from the offices into
the AD network at the main offices.

Thanks


.

Paul,

I assume that you have only one AD and that you are making
use of Sites and Services? That is to say, are both
locations simply one AD Domain and are connected via a
Site Link in AD Sites and Services?

Are these three "non-networked" offices all part of your
company? If not, will they be?

I ask because - as I understand your post - the three "non-
notworked" offices will become their own AD Forest. So,
you will have the current AD Forest ( one domain in the
sole domain tree - spanning two Sites - in the Forest )
and then these three other AD Forests. It *MIGHT* be a
better plan to network these three "remote" offices to
your main office.

If you set up the three offices with a DC then you will
have a problem joining each "Site" to your domain. You
essentially would have to DCPROMO each DC to a Stand Alone
( as it would be the only - thus last - DC in the Domain
and then join it to your domain and then DCPROMO it to a
DC in your Domain ( as the DC in the third, fourth and
fifth Site respectivley ). You would essentially loose
everything, though. Another option would be to establish
a Trust from one Forest to another, use ADMT v2 to migrate
the user accounts (Inter-Forest Migration ).

We might need more details. Are you talking about 10
users in each remote office or are you talking about 10000
users in each remote office. I presume that each of the
three "remote" offices is in a "workgroup" environment so
that they can at least share folders and other resources
amongst each other.

Does this help you at all in the initially planning?

Cary

 

[Paul Edwards]

Yes, all 3 offices our part of our company.
Money is the biggest thing keeping us from networking the other offices.
There are some distance from our main offices. The furtherest office is
about 75 miles.

The total number of useres at each remote office is small. Total users for
all 3 offices will probably be less than 100.

I guess worst case would be to recreate these accounts on the main office AD
servers and then disable AD on the 3 servers and then recreate AD and
connect them to the main ofice AD.

This might be a stupid question but when you remove AD from a server will
the user account change to local accounts and will anything happen to there
shares.

Thanks