Lab 8.1: Planning the Physical Structure

After completing this lab, you will be able to

• Plan an Active Directory site structure and replication strategy
• Determine the placement of domain controllers, global catalog servers, and operations masters

About This Lab

In this lab you’ll plan the Active Directory physical structure for Northwind Traders. You’ll be concerned mainly with Active Directory’s implementation as it relates the company’s Web site and perimeter network. The exercises in this lab coincide with the steps described in Lesson 2, which include defining a site structure, defining an intersite replication strategy, and determining the placement of domain controllers, global catalog servers, and operations masters.

Before You Begin

Before you begin this lab, you must be able to

• Administer Windows 2000 Advanced Server
• Administer Active Directory and the DNS service

Scenario: Network Structure for Northwind Traders

Northwind Traders is implementing a Windows 2000 network that will host a Web site that will be available to external clients through the Internet. Admin-istrators have designed a network topology that includes a perimeter net- work to support the Web services. The network uses one namespace (northwindtraders.com) for internal and external users. The network is confined to one physical location that’s a well-connected LAN set up as a single domain. All connections are fast and reliable.

The perimeter network contains a front-end tier that supports a Web cluster and a back-end tier that supports a Data cluster. The perimeter network is separated from the private corporate network by a firewall. Figure 8.7 shows the network topology of the perimeter network.

As one of the administrators, you’re responsible for planning the Active Directory physical structure for your network. You must design a site structure, prepare a replication strategy, and decide on the placement of domain controllers, global catalogs, and operations masters.

Figure 8.7 - Network topology for Northwind Traders

Exercise 1: Defining a Site Structure

In this exercise you must determine how you should set up Active Directory sites for the Northwind Traders network. Remember that in defining a site structure you’re working with your network’s physical topology and creating a more general topology that’s based on available bandwidth, network reliability, and network segmentation. As you plan site structure, refer to Figure 8.7.

1. What criteria should you use when deciding how to structure your sites?
2. How many sites should you create for this site and where should they be located?
3. Why have you chosen this site structure?
4. Assume that the private corporate network is spread across several physical locations connected by WAN links. How would that affect your site structure?

Exercise 2: Placing Domain Controllers

In this exercise you must determine where you’ll locate the domain controllers. You should base your decisions on the site structure that you created in Exer- cise 1. One of your goals in determining where to place domain controllers is to ensure that client requests for authentication within the perimeter network don’t pass through the firewall into the corporate private network, even in the event of domain controller failure. In addition, client requests generated within the corporate network shouldn’t have to pass through the firewall into the perimeter network for authentication, even in the event of domain controller failure.

1. What guidelines should you follow when determining where to place domain controllers?
2. In which sites would you include a domain controller?
3. How many domain controllers should you include in your network?

Exercise 3: Defining an Intersite Replication Strategy

In this exercise you’ll determine how to set up Active Directory intersite replication for the Northwind Traders network. Remember that planning for intersite replication consists primarily of deciding how site links will be configured. Of course, replication is facilitated by your site structure, which you determined in Exercise 1. You’ll now take that structure and plan how you’ll configure the necessary site links.

1. What guidelines should you follow when determining how to configure site links?
2. What site links do you need to configure for the Northwind Traders network?
3. What configuration information must you provide for each site link?
4. You decide that replication between the perimeter network and the private network should occur throughout the day at regular intervals. You want domain controllers on both sides of the firewall to remain relatively current, but you don’t want to overwhelm the network. You plan to restrict directory replication to 12 times a day at regular intervals, every day of the week. How should you configure the site link?

Exercise 4: Placing Global Catalog Servers and Operations Masters

In this exercise you’ll determine where you should place global catalog servers and operations masters. You’ll base your decision on the site structure and domain placement that you determined in the previous exercises. You believe that, given the size of your network, four domain controllers are enough to handle the network load and provide fault tolerance. You’d prefer not to add any equipment at this time.

1. What guidelines should you follow when determining where to place global catalog servers?
2. Where should you locate global catalog servers in the Northwind Traders network?
3. What guidelines should you follow when determining where to place operations masters?
4. Where should you place the operations masters?