Numerous GC's per domain

[Jake]

Can anyone tell me if it's a good idea to have numerous
Global Catalog server per domain or not???
I have got the DC's at each site set up as a GC, but we
are getting "Master Browser" & "Global Catalog" error's in
the event viewer, elections being forced, etc...

 

[David Brandt [MSFT]]

The gc's probably are having anything to do with the browser issues, as that
would probably be more likely due to either multihomed segment master
browsers, domain master, or just having a segment with only clients on it
with no "server" so the clients are always changing who is master for that
segment. Those can be changed via registry change for isdomainmaster to
true (really means segment master not domain) on one machine in that
segment.
The multihomed issues are addressed in several KB's.

The main rule for gc's is not to have it on the same dc that also holds the
IF role in a multi domain network. Single domain networks won't really
affect it as all dc's have all the same info anyway.

I've included a couple of browsing articles, but what gc errors are you
seeing?

191611 Symptoms of Multihomed Browsers
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=191611

136712 Common Questions About Browsing with Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=136712

188305 Troubleshooting the Microsoft Computer Browser Service
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305

--
David Brandt
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. This alias is for
newsgroup purposes only.

 

[Jake]

The GC error (actually information in EvntVwr)I'm getting
in the Directory Service log is :
Event ID: 1110 >>>
Promotion of this server to a Global Catalog will be
delayed for 30 minutes. This delay is necessary so that
the required partitions can be made ready before the GC is
advertised. The operations that will occur during this
time include the KCC being run to generate the new
topology, all read-only partitions in the enterprise being
added to this server, and the contents of these partitions
being replicated into this system.

If you wish to promote the GC immediately without
enforcing this precondition, set the registry variable

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ Current Control Set \
Services \ NTDS \ Parameters \ Global Catalog Delay
Advertisement (sec)

to a DWORD value of 0. The GC will be promoted on the
next attempt to check preconditions. This value can also
be set to the maximum number of seconds that the DSA will
wait before promoting to a GC.

-----Original Message-----
The gc's probably are having anything to do with the browser issues, as that
would probably be more likely due to either multihomed segment master
browsers, domain master, or just having a segment with only clients on it
with no "server" so the clients are always changing who is master for that
segment. Those can be changed via registry change for isdomainmaster to
true (really means segment master not domain) on one machine in that
segment.
The multihomed issues are addressed in several KB's.

The main rule for gc's is not to have it on the same dc that also holds the
IF role in a multi domain network. Single domain networks won't really
affect it as all dc's have all the same info anyway.

I've included a couple of browsing articles, but what gc errors are you
seeing?

191611 Symptoms of Multihomed Browsers
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=191611

136712 Common Questions About Browsing with Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=136712

188305 Troubleshooting the Microsoft Computer Browser Service
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305

--
David Brandt
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. This alias is for
newsgroup purposes only.

Thank you so much for replying to my question with such a
detailed response....

 

[David Brandt [MSFT]]

Normally the gc will put an 1119 event in the ds log (almost sure its 1119
but may be 1117 - from memory) about it being gc ready when that is
completed. Usually that happens 5 - 10 minutes after that box is checked
assuming that everything throughout the domain is running ok. Not trying to
sound any alarms or anything here, as I usually hardly ever even look at
informational events, but you can keep an eye on it. You could kick off the
kcc on all dc's and also maybe uncheck the box for gc, reboot the server and
wait a bit, and then recheck it again to see if that speeds it up. However
if you're not seeing any kind of replication issues in your domain, don't
know that I'd be overly concerned at this point.

--
David Brandt
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. This alias is for
newsgroup purposes only.

 

[Joe Richards [MVP]]

The time it takes to get a 1119 depends entirely on the

1. Setting on the advertisement reg entry
2. The time it takes to replicate the partitions from the domains.

Assuming default setting of 1 you have to have a full sync replication of
the P.A.S. for every domain partition to the GC in question to have the GC
be ready. If those messages are popping, the GC is not a GC yet because it
doesn't have the data.

As an example my GCs in my high speed connection facilities can take a day
or longer depending on how many objects we have at the moment and what
domains they are in (i.e. where does the data have to come from). GC
replication is lower priority than normal replication and can get preempted
a lot. To speed up the replication of a GC you can force the partial
partitions with forced synces through REPADMIN. Doing this I can take a GC
build that could take a day or longer to finish in 8 or so hours however the
default partition of the DC doesn't get the updates as often as it normally
would because the inbound queue gets dominated by the partition you are
forcing the replication for.

joe