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| Tech Ranger 2003-06-10, 10:04 pm |
| Besides bandwidth, what are the standards for determining the boundaries of an AD site? | |
| jeff_j_black 2003-06-11, 9:10 am |
| The number of users needing access to DC, GC and other network support services, might be a good thing to base a site upon. | |
| Tech Ranger 2003-06-11, 7:23 pm |
| I would imagine that geography is a key factor, too?
If 2 locations are 1000 miles apart and extremely well connected, you would not consider making them part of the same site, would you?
I ask because so much emphasis in what I read and see seems to focus on bandwidth. | |
| jeff_j_black 2003-06-11, 9:38 pm |
| That's a tough call, I doubt two locations at 1000 miles apart, would wind up in the same site. Again, the number of users and what services they need access to would be part of the decision.
What Microsoft considers to be site bandwidth is 512 k to 1 mbps at minimum.
The organization I work at has 50+ offices accross the USA. Four sites act as hubs to smaller offices that have connectivity to the hubs at anywhare from full T-1 to DSL for smaller offices. The sites have redundant (mesh) T-1 connections between them.
For a large organization with vital data services, I would select sites as having redundant connectivity if possible. | |
| Tech Ranger 2003-06-11, 10:06 pm |
| So these 4 locations are probably well connected by your companies bandwidth tolerance standards, but they are configured as seperate sites. | |
| jeff_j_black 2003-06-11, 10:32 pm |
| Correct, they are sites. | |
| aawmorris 2003-06-17, 10:02 pm |
| I work for a Mental Health Facility with several satellites that span approximately 10 counties. They are connected by a full T1 going out over a frame relay. Everything is set up as one site. We rely heavily on Remote Desktop for the satellite offices to access the main campus. I understand that it is an excellent idead to have different sites, for authentication and name resolution purposes, but most of the access for my clients to AD and services comes through Terminal Services. Just a thought if you are limited on $$$$. I work for the State of Georgia. Money is definitely limited, although I am pretty handsomely compensated. I'm not like "Big Daddy J Black", with the clients all over the freakin USA. Not yet anyway. | |
| Tech Ranger 2003-06-17, 10:04 pm |
| This AD stuff is weird. 10 counties, 1 site. | |
| aawmorris 2003-06-17, 10:17 pm |
| You said a mouthful. However, Georgia has the most counties of any state, they really aren't that large. Probably a radius of 50 miles from the campus to the farthest satellite. Here is some food for thought; Have you ever tried to install Office 2000 over a frame relay, better pack your lunch, or have any possible software that you might need in the trunk. | |
| SpazM 2003-06-23, 11:02 pm |
| hmmm....one site...heavy AD repl. traffic across the wan links don't you think?..assuming there are multiple sites with dcs on each site....doesn't AD repl. occur every 5 mins.... | |
| aawmorris 2003-06-24, 11:54 am |
| Go back and read from the beginning, then post again! | |
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| Easy tiger...why you gotta get so defensive?...Haahahaha | |
| jeff_j_black 2003-06-24, 4:13 pm |
| It's all one site. There's either several DC's and replication traffic, or a few DC's and authentication traffic.
It's all cool, we are just looking to illustrate some real-world AD implementations, to answer the question. | |
| aawmorris 2003-06-24, 9:53 pm |
| Sorry, didn't mean to Spaz on you, hahaha! | |
| SpazM 2003-06-24, 11:06 pm |
| its all G....i'm not the one with one site... | |
| aawmorris 2003-06-25, 8:54 am |
| What kind of setup do you have, Spaz? | |
| aawmorris 2003-06-25, 9:07 am |
| I guess that your associates degree didn't teach you the business aspect of networking, especially when you are constrained under a budget. Therefore when you only have a set amount of $$$, you figure out ways to work with it and be efficient. Not to mention, if I only have 2 or 3 clients at each remote location, why would I set up a site and spend all that $$ for a DC? Correct, I am the one with one site, but that leaves more $$ for other things. | |
| Tarzanboy 2003-06-25, 1:25 pm |
| Out of personal curiosity, if you are even allowed to discuss this, are they using Frame Relay exclusively for the satellite locations or are some using Cable/xDSL/Satellite with VPN?
Cheers,
TB | |
| aawmorris 2003-06-25, 1:30 pm |
| Some use VPN while others are connected by a router to the WAN via the cloud. | |
| aawmorris 2003-06-25, 1:31 pm |
| That is, VPN via cable. | |
| Tarzanboy 2003-06-25, 2:17 pm |
| One of the clients I support is testing out a new system of moving from a two channel fractional T1 to a single channel and moving everything except the Point of Sale from it and putting it onto satellite using VPN. It is amazing how much of a savings can be made just dropping 64k off of a dedicated line.
Cheers,
TB | |
| aawmorris 2003-06-29, 6:04 pm |
| word. | |
| Tech Ranger 2003-06-29, 8:27 pm |
| Word up!! Amo chill at my crib with some homeies. I can't wait to tell'em about this. | |
| SpazM 2003-06-29, 11:42 pm |
| Hmm...lol..yea sure..ok....did you mention you only had 3 clients at each site?..only now you bringing on the details eh?...figured you had an enterprise network the way you talking... | |
| aawmorris 2003-07-01, 7:49 pm |
| Some have 3, some have 10, some are single PC's set up in client homes, some VPN through the cable. The main point that I am trying to make is that the main reason behind sites is for replication purposes. 95% of the processing that goes on is on my Term Servers. One of the TS's happens to be a domain controller. That takes care of the majority of what a site is supposed to do, authenticating, locating objects and resources, printing, etc. Since Remote Desktop centralizes all of the apps and services that my users need, I don't find it necessary to set up sites. And as for being an enterprise, that it is. 480 users, 6 Terminal Servers, 2 NT 4 servers, God knows how many routers; sorry, 17 routers, 2 PIX firewall's, DNS, DHCP, WINS server, RRAS, IIS 5.0 etc. blah blah blah blah blah blah | |
| aawmorris 2003-07-01, 7:54 pm |
| SQL, Exchange. By the way, what defines enterprise? | |
| Tarzanboy 2003-07-02, 12:22 am |
| Well, you need a flair for melodramatic speeches and a sidekick with pointy ears, flat hair and no sense of humor.
Cheers,
TB | |
| aawmorris 2003-07-02, 7:58 am |
| Yes sir, you are correct! | |
| jeff_j_black 2003-07-02, 9:53 am |
| Beam me up!
aaw... sounds like you got a tiger by the tail, but a good handle on the situation. Hope things are going well for you. | |
| aawmorris 2003-07-02, 10:58 pm |
| Many thanks Jeff, I like to think that I have the tiger by the throat. If ya know what I mean. | |
| jeff_j_black 2003-07-03, 8:55 am |
| Good management style! | |
| aawmorris 2003-07-05, 7:56 pm |
| or does he have me by throat?? |
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