TABLE OF CONTENTS In the preceding chapters, we discussed forests, domains, sites and subsnets. The common link? Domain Controllers (DC), the backbone of any Windows Server 2003 network. Server roles were discussed in Chapter 3 and managing domain controllers was covered at length in Chapter 12. In this chapter, we're going to take a quick look at DCs in more detail. Implementing and managing DCs is an important part of the network administrator's job, because the DCs play such a vital role in the operation of the network. The focus of this chapter is the Active Directory DC and how to plan and deploy DCs on your network. You'll learn about server roles, where DCs fit in, and how to create and upgrade DCs. We discuss placement of DCs within sites, and how to back up your DCs.
Remember that a DC does not equal a domain. A domain is a logical entity containing potentially millions of objects, while a DC, in the context of this chapter, is simply a computer running Windows Server 2003 with a copy of the Active Directory database (of course, an NT Server or Windows 2000 Server computer can also be a DC). This server takes on a management role in granting or denying access to resources throughout the entire domain, not just those resources located on this physical machine. In order to provide acceptable connectivity performance, it is imperative that all users have adequate access to a DC close to their...
