Re: Active Directory Site Design and Replication

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Hi,

Given you're running MPLS you could just run things as they are and you'd be
OK. Your topology is not optimal, but if it ain't broke, you might not want
to fix it.

If you're set on redoing things, I'd probably just set it up hub/spoke and
hook all the spokes up to the hub. Just cost the links according to speed
and when the hub site goes dwon it will choose an ideal partner to replicate
with in terms of link speed.

I'd just link the 60 subnets to the home office or balance them out amongst
higher speed/least utilized sites. Up to you really.


--
Thanks,
Brian Desmond
Windows Server MVP - Directory Services

www.briandesmond.com


<falken7@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1176160022.832863.220090@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
All,

I'm being presented with a situation and would like to get some
suggestions/input. I'm currently working on a project for a company
that involves improving network performance, load balancing, etc. One
leg of this effort concerns the way Active Directory is designed from
a Sites/Replication perspective. Here's the background:

The company has a relatively small AD - possibly in the medium size
network. About 1500 workstations and 150 servers are on the domain.
The model is Single Forest/Single Domain. The Central Office is home
to many of the servers, including two domain controllers. The network
also has around 90 locations on an MPLS cloud. Of these 90 locations,
30 have one domain controller and are setup as a Site in AD. Each
Site only has one DC. Each Site is running on links ranging from 256k
to 512k circuits. The Home Office has a 3mb connection to the MPLS
Cloud. Currently, all the Sites are configured to use the
DEFAULTIPSITELINK that is installed with AD. No Site links have been
setup.

With that background, does anyone have a good, sound method of
designing this topology? How should each site be linked, etc. I also
need to think about where to place the other 60 subnets that do not
have a site. Should those point to a site or back to the Home Office?

Any suggestions will be appreciated. I just want to make sure that AD
is configured properly and making effective use of the bandwidth.



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