Re: Global Catalog Failure

I tried to promote my DC to a GC (in my test domain)and it looked like it was
but it didn't work that way.
I lost my GC to a hardware failure and my test domain has not been set to
backup at this time. But I was never able to disjoin the old GC and things
never worked right so I rebuilt my test domain. This makes me concerned about
the real network and disaster recovery. Any ideas?

"Herb Martin" wrote:

"Janelle" <Janelle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:2A536EEA-4897-451C-BA0E-7D63D75B01AA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have 5 child domains in a single forrest and one global catalog.

With five domains you must EITHER:

1) Make every DC a GC (or)
2) Make sure the INFRASTUCTURE Masters are NOT GCs

(Making an IM a GC interferes with it's function but if every DC
in the forest is a GC that become irrelevant.)

Note: You should NOT make every DC a GC in a LARGE forest,
but you have indicated this is not the case for your network.

Yes I was
instructed that a singular global catalog was fine

In general, that is bad advise you were given.

You should have a MINIMUM of one GC per SITE.

You should have a MINIMUM of two GCs per site for fault tolerance.

Generally this means you want to have 2 x Sites GCs as a working
minimum.

But with small forests you can just make all DCs GCs and get
fault tolerance for practically no cost.

and that BDC were a thing
of the past.

NT-BDCs are still supported but Win2000+ DCs are neither
"Primary" (PDC) nor "Backup" (BDC) - they are just DCs.

You can have as many DCs per domain as you wish (as make
sense, as you can afford.)

So how can I have a global catalog at each? Is this a working
network structure you currently have in place?

Yes. Most everyone with single domain forests or small forests
(or such customers) does this once they understand what GCs
do and the implications.

For large forests, the rule of 2 x Sites = GCs PLUS more for
performance of "network applications" (e.g., Exchange) is used.


--
Herb Martin, MCSE, MVP
Accelerated MCSE
http://www.LearnQuick.Com
[phone number on web site]


"Herb Martin" wrote:

"Janelle" <Janelle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:8D7A72AD-C3D7-470D-A3B2-570EBDA9E1B1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
No misunderstanding we only have one global catalog,

The implication of the SINGULAR is that you believe that
you are to have but one GC....

we are a small company with limited resources.

And since you already have multiple DCs you can have
multiple GCs for free.

Why should there be more than one global catalog?

For fault tolerance. You need a GC for reliable logins
AND for other purposes (e.g., Exchange etc.)

Since you have multiple DC and a SMALL forest of one
domain you should just make EVERY DC a GC.


--
Herb Martin, MCSE, MVP
Accelerated MCSE
http://www.LearnQuick.Com
[phone number on web site]

"Herb Martin" wrote:

"Janelle" <Janelle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:D8F65831-1C90-42D1-9243-F246A3F1ABF1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
My global catalog failed in my test domain, there is no inexpensive
way
to
rebuild it so I have opted to buy an new one. This may me begin to
question
what I would do if I had a irrepairable failure of the global
catalog
in
my
real network. How do you replace the global catalog in an active
directory,
one that has 5 child domains?

You question has been answered by Jorge and Paul.

Just make a new GC (and NTDSUtil metadata cleanup any
lost DCs.)

BUT there is also a strong implication of a misunderstanding
in the question above: "My global catalog" (in the SINGULAR.)

You should generally have more than one GC; you should have
at least one PER SITE, and more for fault tolerance (esp. logins.)

With a single domain forest you should just make ALL DCs into
GCs, but you have 6 domains (domain plus 5 children) so this
does not apply to you.

If one of the domains holds the vast majority of objects or the
forest isn't very big you may STILL CONSIDER making every
DC a GC.

In any case, if you have a LARGE forest then you need more
GCs (but may not all DCs.)

--
Herb Martin, MCSE, MVP
Accelerated MCSE
http://www.LearnQuick.Com
[phone number on web site]









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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Global Catalog Failure
    ... network still functions close to normal. ... You should NOT make every DC a GC in a LARGE forest, ... You should have a MINIMUM of two GCs per site for fault tolerance. ... But with small forests you can just make all DCs GCs and get ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.active_directory)
  • Re: Global Catalog Failure
    ... installed, you can install them from your server install disk. ... You should NOT make every DC a GC in a LARGE forest, ... You should have a MINIMUM of two GCs per site for fault tolerance. ... But with small forests you can just make all DCs GCs and get ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.active_directory)
  • Re: Global Catalog Failure
    ... You should NOT make every DC a GC in a LARGE forest, ... but you have indicated this is not the case for your network. ... You should have a MINIMUM of two GCs per site for fault tolerance. ... But with small forests you can just make all DCs GCs and get ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.active_directory)
  • Re: Global Catalog Failure
    ... And for small forests or single domain forest EVERY DC ... If you only have one DC, then the SYSTEM STATE backup ... You should have a MINIMUM of two GCs per site for fault tolerance. ... But with small forests you can just make all DCs GCs and get ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.active_directory)
  • Re: Drive Imaging and AD
    ... You have drive imaged all DCs in all domains in the entire forest at precisely the same time and will restore all DCs from those images simultaneously ... You have imaged a DC representing each partition within the forest and are prepared to forcibly demote, ... Then doing a non-authoritative system state restore from backup then replugging it back into network? ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.active_directory)
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