Re: [ActiveDir] Multihomed Domain Controllers

[Susan Bradley]

Depends on your support engineers... mullihomed DCs are quite typical to the SBS CSS engineer  :-) 

 

The KB in the 2000 era that we had tattooed to our foreheads due to our two nic DCs was this one

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;292822

Al Mulnick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Personally, I've never used that configuration for a DC.  Since being bit in the nt4.0 days (before that really, but hate to show the age :) I've had architectural reasons to not do that.  Since AD is made up of a multi-master fabric, I have had no reason at all to require an isolated network dedicated to backups.  I get the feeling in your case it's just a nice to have vs. a requirement since you have the hardware and figure why not put it to use.  You'd be a rare exception if the size of the dit is large enough to require such a configuration.  Saying that, is it possible? Most likley.  Will it be difficult when/if you call for support for some other issue to explain to the engineer that you have a mutli-homed DC? Most likely.  Does it break the "keep it as simple as possible while meeting the requirements?" rule? Most likley. 

 

When you test this, as the others have mentioned, be sure to test the recoverability and the gotchas that come along with bringing up a recovered DC on a multi-homed machine.  You'll want to have that documented and thouroughly tested so as not to have to deal with that when under pressure.  You may also want to consider an alternative backup method that doesn't require a dedicated network to the DC's. 

 

Just some random thoughts and my $.04 (USD) worth.

 

Al

 

On 7/12/06, Jeff Green <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Hi Guys,

 

 

                Many thanks to all that have responded (and so quickly !)

 

Points / clarifications / additional Qs

 

    a)    DNS multihomed issues

 

            Yes, found that in the MS KB about not "registering this connection in DNS" on the second NIC.

 

            Also leave the gateway / DNS TCP/IP settings blank on the second NIC.

 

    b)    Browser Issues

 

            Several things in MS KB about this and fixes (including hacking a registry if I remember correctly)

       

            But would Browser issues affect AD operations - I'm talking about replication issues here ?

 

    c)    Currently running W2K SP4 + rollups on all DCs - but moving to W2K3.

 

           Sorry should have stated this.

 

 

    d)    Backup

 

           Using BackupExec, which allows binding of remote agents to specific NICs

 

 

Have I got everything covered - I can't believe this is an unusual configuration ?

 

 

       

                                Many Thanks

                           

           

---

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Jeff Green
Sent: 12 July 2006 11:43

To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org

Subject: [ActiveDir] Multihomed Domain Controllers

 

Hi,

     First posting to this list but I've lurked quite a while and I've been very impressed by
the quality of replies by the gurus.

My question is regarding the advisability of having multihomed DCs. Basically I want
to run backups over a separate GbE and as my servers have dual inbuilt NICs this
seems an obvious route to take. I know there are some issues with DNS (I have
a DNS integrated AD).

Would this cause replication problems, etc ?

Any other "gotchas" ?

                        Many Thanks,

---
Jeff Green
Network Support Manager
SAPIENS (UK) Ltd
t: +44 (0)1895 464228 f: +44 (0)1895 463098

"I dream of hover cars and old transistor radios ... She dreams of flowers in a field of sunny bungalows"

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