Planning for Your Servers

   

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Domains, and the Active Directory directory system of which they are a part, provide many options for making resources easily available to users while maintaining good monitoring and security. For more information about Active Directory, see Chapter 3 , "Active Directory."

With Windows Server 2003, servers in a domain can have one of two roles: domain controllers, which contain matching copies of the user accounts and other Active Directory data in a given domain; and member servers, which belong to a domain but do not contain a copy of the Active Directory data. (A server that belongs to a workgroup, not a domain, is called a stand-alone server.) It's possible to change the role of a server from domain controller to member server (or stand-alone server) and back again, even after Setup is complete. However, it's recommended that you plan your domain before running Setup and change server roles (and server names ) only when necessary.

Multiple domain controllers provide better support for users, compared with a single domain controller. With multiple domain controllers, you have multiple copies of user account data and other Active Directory data; however, it's still important to perform regular backups, including Automated System Recovery backups , and familiarize yourself with the methods for restoring a domain controller. In addition, multiple domain controllers work together to support domain controller functions, such as carrying out logon validations.

As you manage your Windows Server 2003 family domains, you might want to learn more about operations master roles. Operations master roles are special roles that are assigned to one or more domain controllers in an Active Directory domain. The domain controllers that are assigned these roles perform operations that are single-master (not permitted to occur at different places on a network at the same time). For example, the creation of security identifiers for new resources (such as new computers) must be overseen by a single domain controller to ensure that the identifiers are unique.

The first domain controller installed in a domain is automatically assigned all the operations master roles. You can change the assignment of operations master roles after Setup, but in most cases this is not necessary. You will need to be particularly aware of operations masters roles if problems develop on an operations master or if you plan to take one out of service. For more information about operations master roles, which are part of Active Directory, see Help and Support Center.

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