Client Preferred AD Server

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We have a mid-sized network with about 10 sites, each with its own subnet. 6 of those sites have AD servers.

Assuming the AD domain is called "mycompany.com", how does a client determine which AD server is closest to it?

I've done all kinds of packet sniffing and I can't really see where a client does anything more than query the SRV records for _gc._tcp.mycompany.com, which returns the complete list of servers for the entire domain. This is causing a client at a site that has a local server to authenticate with a (random) server much farther away, rather than the server just a switch port away. I have configured the AD Sites and Services with the correct subnets, and placed the correct servers in the correct sites, but I just don't understand how a client can choose a local server over a remote server when DNS simply returns *all* the servers for the master domain.

I've also experimented with creating child domains for each site with its' own server, but that leads me down a path I don't want to go since each client at each site needs to be joined to the child domain instead of the parent domain. It does solve the problem of a client choosing a close server since the client asks DNS and receives *only* the server for the child domain, but it's far from an optimal solution. On top of that, I no longer have a single view of all my users and computers since child domains are treated a wholly separate by the AD Users and Computers manager.

It seems I'm missing some very critical step. I just want to have a single simple domain, but have my clients connect to the nearest AD server. Can anyone help me out?

TIA,
Eric
.

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