Recipe 11.19 Disabling Automatic Site Coverage for a Domain Controller

11.19.1 Problem

You want to prevent a domain controller from covering sites outside of the one it resides in.

11.19.2 Solution

11.19.2.1 Using a graphical user interface

1. Run regedit.exe from the command line or Start Run.

2. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Services Netlogon Parameters.

3. Right-click on Parameters and select New DWORD Value.

4. For the name, enter AutoSiteCoverage.

5. Double-click on the new value, enter 0 under Value data, and click OK.

11.19.2.2 Using a command-line interface

> reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon\Parameters /v[RETURN]  AutoSiteCoverage /t REG_DWORD /d 0

11.19.2.3 Using VBScript

' This code disables auto site coverage strNetlogonReg = "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon\Parameters" const HKLM = &H80000002 Set objReg = GetObject("winmgmts:root\default:StdRegProv") objReg.SetDWORDValue HKLM, strNetlogonReg, "AutoSiteCoverage", 0 WScript.Echo "Site coverage disabled"

11.19.3 Discussion

If you want to reduce the load on a domain controller, one way is to prevent it from covering for other sites. Automatic site coverage happens when a site does not have any member domain controllers.

11.19.4 See Also

Recipe 11.18 for viewing the site coverage for a domain controller