Global Catalog and Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) Roles Lesson 4

Skills Matrix Technology Skill Objective Domain Objective # Configuring Additional Global Catalog Servers Configure the global catalog 2.5 Placing FSMO Role Holders Configure operations masters 2.6

Critical component of Active Directory. Global Catalog Critical component of Active Directory. Acts as a central repository by holding: A complete copy of all objects from the host server’s local domain. A partial copy of all objects from other domains within the same forest Used for logon, object searches, and universal group memberships.

Global Catalog Global catalog placement considerations include: The speed and reliability of the WAN link. The amount of traffic that will be generated by replication. The size of the global catalog database. When a user initiates a search for an object in Active Directory, the request is automatically sent to TCP port 3268. Global catalogs are identified with DNS through the SRV records (global catalog, or _gc, service).

Universal Group Membership Caching Available with Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. Used for sites that do not have a global catalog server available. Stores universal group memberships on a local domain controller that can be used for logon to the domain, eliminating the need for frequent access to a global catalog server. UGMC Allows domain controllers to process a logon or resource request without the presence of a global catalog server. Assuming a user has successfully logged on when a global catalog server was available and universal group membership caching was enabled.

Universal Group Membership Caching UGMC Enabled on a per-site basis. By default, cache is refreshed every eight hours.

Universal Group Membership Caching It eliminates the need to place a global catalog in a remote location where the link speed is slow or unreliable. It provides better logon performance for users with cached information. If the global catalog is located across a WAN link, cached credentials can replace the need to have logon traffic sent across a slow or unreliable link. It minimizes WAN usage for replication traffic because the domain controller does not have to hold information about forest-wide objects. In addition, these remote domain controllers are not listed in DNS as providers of global catalog services for the forest, further reducing bandwidth constraints.

Global Catalog and Universal Group Caching If universal group caching is not available to record the user’s information into cache and the global catalog server goes offline, the logon attempt will fail. Administrators will be the only ones able to log on.

Global Catalog By default, the first domain controller installed in the forest root domain is designated as a global catalog server. Any or all domain controllers in a domain can be designated as global catalog server. The disadvantage of having all domain controllers as global catalogs is the increased traffic since forest information is replicated to all global catalogs.

Configuring an Additional Global Catalog Server Use Active Directory Sites and Services from the Administrative Tools folder. Demonstrate this.

Enabling Universal Group Membership Caching Use Active Directory Sites and Services. Demonstrate this also.

Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) Roles To keep a tight control on certain sensitive or special operations, Active Directory uses Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) roles. Relative Identifier Master. Infrastructure Master. Primary Domain Controller (PDC) Emulator. Domain Naming Master. Schema Master.

Relative Identifier (RID) Master Domain specific (one per domain). Responsible for assigning relative identifiers to domain controllers in the domain. Relative identifiers are variable-length numbers assigned by a domain controller when a new object is created.

Infrastructure Master Domain specific (one per domain). Responsible for reference updates from its domain objects to other domains. Assists in tracking which domains own which objects.

Primary Domain Controller (PDC) Emulator Domain specific (one per domain). Provides backward compatibility with Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 domains and other down-level clients. Manages account lockouts. Manages time synchronization for the domain. Manages password changes. When a password is changed, it provides immediate replication to other domain controllers in the domain. Managing edits to Group Policy Objects (GPOs)

Forest specific (one per forest). Domain Naming Master Forest specific (one per forest). Has the authority to manage the creation and deletion of domains, domain trees, and application data partitions in the forest. When any of these is created, the Domain Naming Master ensures that the name assigned is unique to the forest.

Schema Master Forest specific (one per forest). Responsible for managing changes to the Active Directory schema.

Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) Roles When you install the first domain controller in a new forest, that domain controller holds both of the forest-wide FSMOs as well as the three domain-wide FSMOs for the forest root domain. Review all 5 again and emphasize which ones are one per domain and one per forest. The two that are forest have a function that direct for the entire forest. Domain naming and schema.

Managing FSMO Roles Role transfer - Used to move a FSMO role gracefully from one domain controller to another. Role seizure - Used only when you have experienced a failure of a domain controller that holds a FSMO role and you forced an ungraceful transfer.

Viewing or transferring Domain-Wide FSMO Role Holders Open the Active Directory Users and Computers MMC snap-in. Right-click the Active Directory Users and Computers node, click All Tasks, and select Operations Masters. Demonstrate this.

Viewing or Transferring the Domain Naming Master FSMO Role Holder In Active Directory Domains and Trusts, right-click the Active Directory Domains and Trusts node and select Change Operations Master. Demonstrate this.

Viewing or Transferring the Schema Master FSMO Role Holder Open the Active Directory Schema snap-in. Right-click Active Directory Schema from the console tree and select Change Operations Master. Remember that before you can access the Active Directory Schema snap-in, you need to register the schmmgmt.dll DLL file using the following syntax: regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll Reemphasize this. This will be on the exam.

Seizing a FSMO Role Use the ntdsutil command to access the fmso maintenance prompt and use the seize command. Demonstrate ntdsutil command.

Summary The global catalog server acts as a central repository for Active Directory by holding a complete copy of all objects within its local domain and a partial copy of all objects from other domains within the same forest. The global catalog has three main functions: the facilitation of searches for objects in the forest, resolution of UPN names, and provision of universal group membership information.

Summary A global catalog should be placed in each site when possible. As an alternate solution when a site is across an unreliable WAN link, universal group membership caching can be enabled for the site to facilitate logon requests.

Summary Global catalog placement considerations include the speed and reliability of the WAN link, the amount of traffic that will be generated by replication, the size of the global catalog database, and the applications that might require use of port 3268 for resolution. Operations master roles are assigned to domain controllers to perform single-master operations.

The Schema Master and Domain Naming Master roles are forest-wide. Summary The Schema Master and Domain Naming Master roles are forest-wide. Every forest must have one and only one of each of these roles. The RID Master, PDC Emulator, and Infrastructure Master roles are domain-wide. Every domain must have only one of each of these roles.

Summary The default placement of FSMO roles is sufficient for a single-site environment. However, as your network expands, these roles should be divided to increase performance and reliability.

Summary FSMO roles can be managed in two ways: Role transfer - Transfer a FSMO role to other domain controllers in the domain or forest to balance the load among domain controllers or to accommodate domain controller maintenance and hardware upgrades. Role seizure - Seize a FSMO role assignment when a server holding the role fails and you do not intend to restore it. Seizing a FSMO role is a drastic step that should be considered only if the current FSMO role holder will never be available again.

Summary Use repadmin to check the status of the update sequence numbers (USNs) when seizing the FSMO role from the current role holder. Use ntdsutil to actually perform a seizure of the FSMO role.