>From EXCH standpoint, you need to place a GC in the same site as EXCH, because it communicates a lot with AD, especially with GC. For instance, if incoming emails are for an email-enabled group, EXCH connects to GC server to determine the recipients. This means it's very important to design an EXCH environment that has good & fast connectivity to a DC or better to a GC. You should put this server near EXCH box, in the best way directly in its local subnet to make sure a high-speed connection is available.
Now as far as determining the number of GCs, Microsoft recommends a number of about 4000 users a GC can support. That means if you have more than this amount of users, you should put more than one GC in your subnet. But generally for high availability reasons, a second GC is recommended. That means your environment theoretically can support up to 8000 users at a time. Of course you have to determine high availability means to you and your company. So based on your situation, I would put 2 GCs, one in the hub (same site as EXCH) and the second one either in the same site or a remote site for redundancy purposes. Alex Alborzfard -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ExchangeDiscussions Sent: Monday, February 13, 2006 8:38 AM To: Exchange Discussions Subject: To GC or not to GC that is the question Looking for so real world scenarios here. I am responsible for a single domain of a much larger AD forest. My domain represents 9 sites in a hub and spoke scenario. In the past I had setup a dc/gc server at each remote site and 3 dc 2 gc at the hub. Now that all of my sites/servers are upgraded to Windows 2003 what is the best real world recommendation for the placement of GC for Exchange at the hub. None of the remote sites have an exchange server and none of them have more than 100 computers most are less than 50 and a few are 20 or less. All outlook clients are 2003 in cached mode. Given this scenario, do I really need a gc at each remote site? What criteria should I use for GC placement? Thanks for any info! ________________________________ Bob Reasoner _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/read/?forum=exchange To subscribe: http://e-newsletters.internet.com/discussionlists.html/ To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: Jupitermedia Corp. Attn: Discussion List Management 475 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 Please include the email address which you have been contacted with. _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/read/?forum=exchange To subscribe: http://e-newsletters.internet.com/discussionlists.html/ To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: Jupitermedia Corp. Attn: Discussion List Management 475 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 Please include the email address which you have been contacted with.
