W2k/3 - AD - Referral Message for Client which is moving from Site A to B

[stefan741]

Hello,

the following Situation: W2k3 Domain. Client-PC is moving from Site A
to Site B. During first time booting, it gets a referral message from
DC-A now to authenticate at DC-B.

(that is what the books telling me).

Where do I find detailed Information about the Message sended by DC-A
(referral).

Couldn't find Infos with google or in MSDN/TechNet

- Does it contain the information to authenticate with B or
- Does it only contain the info 'A is not the correct DC'

Regards,

Stefan

 

[Laura E. Hunter [MVP]]

Not quite either, actually. Imagine you have a laptop user who's been
working in the Miami site and authenticating against a DC in the Miami site.
This user now gets on a plane and powers up in the San Francisco office.
Here's what happens:

1. On bootup, the client gets an IP address that corresponds to the San
Francisco site.

2. When the user goes to log on, the logon request gets sent to the Miami
DC, since that's the last one that was used successfully.

3. The Miami DC examines the IP address of the incoming request and checks
this against the subnets listed in Active Directory Sites & Services. The
Miami DC knows from this information that the IP address corresponds to the
San Francisco site.

4. The Miami DC sends a referral back to the laptop that says "You're not
in the Miami site anymore. You're in the San Francisco site. Go query DNS
for the domain controllers in that site."

So the client isn't just told "I'm not the DC you want, go away." But it
also isn't told specifically which DC to use in the new site, either.
Instead it's referred to the DNS records for the new site, and it will use
that information to determine which DC in the San Francisco site to send its
logon request to.

HTH

 

[stefan741]

So the client isn't just told "I'm not the DC you want, go away." But it
also isn't told specifically which DC to use in the new site, either.
Instead it's referred to the DNS records for the new site, and it will use
that information to determine which DC in the San Francisco site to send its
logon request to.

OK, great thanks!

What would happen, if I remove an existing DC (only one on this site)
from this site. All clients would choose an arbitrary DC or would the
know about the 'next' one?

Regards,

Stefan