Question - Remote sites without servers over vpn

[John F.]

I have two remote offices which went up on site to site vpn today via
small hardware firewalls. Neither has a server. The users at both
sites previously RAS back into the main site via client server vpn.

remote sites persistent vpn tunnel Local Site
192.168.50.1/28 <--> 192.85.32.0/255.255.254.0
192.168.50.16/28 <--> 192.85.32.0/255.255.254.0

The remote sites are using local dhcp with DNS pointing back to the
Local site's dns servers. Lookups work fine, shares work fine etc.
However, When logging into a remote site machine, the computers froze
while building the new domain user profiles. I suspect AD Sites and
services needs to be reconfigures properly. Do I just add their
subnets to my main site? Advice would be appreciated.

 

[Cary Shultz]

John,

Normally the intent is to place a Domain Controller in a Site when you
create a Site ( and the associated Subnets ). However, *normally* is the
operative word here.

You can create additional Sites in the Active Directory Sites and Services
MMC ( or via scripting, the method used is not the issue here ) and then
create the Subnets and associate the Subnet with the appropriate Site. You
would typically place a Domain Controller in each of the Sites. Or not!
That would work also.

You can also, however, simply create additional Subnets and associate those
with the default Site ( the Default-First-Site-Name ).

Essentially, the choice is yours. There is no right answer here. It all
depends on what you want to do.

How many users are there in each Site? What is the bandwidth?

--
Cary W. Shultz
Roanoke, VA 24012

http://www.activedirectory-win2000.com
(soon to be updated!!!)
http://www.grouppolicy-win2000.com
(soon to be updated!!!)

 

[John F.]

We have only three workstations at site A and two at site B so you can
see why I didn't want to put servers there. The users aren't "savvy"
to put it mildly, so I had to get rid of the client server vpn step....
Both are on 1.5/256 adsl. They are atypical of our network: multiple
sites w/ DC's and a few hundred users over frame relay; thus my lack of
knowlege with this setup.

I added their subnets to our hub (hub and spoke WAN frame topology)
before I left work tonight. I just retried the workstations via Remote
Desktop and got in just fine as you suggest! Since there is no
replication happening because there aren't servers at the remote
subnets, is it ok to leave the subnets assigned to the main site?

Thanks for responding, I appreciate it.

-John

 

[Cary Shultz]

Yes, it is okay to leave the "remote" subnets associated to your Main Site.
And with the bandwidth that you have and the number of users this should be
fine.

A little late, but have you considered using TS for each of the remote
Sites? Just a thought!

Glad to be of help!

--
Cary W. Shultz
Roanoke, VA 24012

http://www.activedirectory-win2000.com
(soon to be updated!!!)
http://www.grouppolicy-win2000.com
(soon to be updated!!!)