Installing Exchange Server 2010 : Deploying Active Directory from Scratch (part 3)

3/20/2011 10:00:46 PM

Configuring Active Directory Sites and Services

As previously stated, in order for Exchange Server 2010 to successfully deliver mail, it relies heavily on Active Directory Sites and Services to determine what site particular servers belong to.

After the AD domain controller has been installed, it is necessary to configure Sites and Services to support the future Exchange Server deployment. In our example, we are going to configure two sites for a future installation of Exchange servers in two locations. We will cover how to rename the default first site, and how to create the second site from scratch.

Changing Site Properties

To change the AD Default-First-Site-Name, follow these steps:

1.	On the domain controller, select Start\Administrative Tools\Active Directory Sites and Services.
2.	Click the plus sign (+) to expand the Sites tree.
3.	Right-click Default-First-Site-Name in the left pane of the console, and then click Rename.
4.	Enter a name, and then press Enter, which changes the default site name to your custom site name. In our sample lab, we will choose FredericksburgVA.

Creating a New Active Directory Site

To create a new site in AD, follow these steps:

1.	On the domain controller, open AD Sites and Services.
2.	Click the plus sign (+) to expand the Sites tree.
3.	Right-click Sites in the left pane of the console, and then click New and Site.
4.	Enter the new site name in the New Object-Site dialog box. In this example, SunnyvaleCA was used for the new site name.
5.	Click to highlight DEFAULTIPSITELINK, and then click OK.
6.	Review the Active Directory Domain Services message box (shown in Figure 4) and ensure the configuration was successful, and then click OK. Figure 4. Active Directory Domain Services message box.

In AD, sites are associated with their respective subnets to allow for the intelligent assignment of users to their respective domain controllers.

To create a new subnet and associate it with a site, follow these steps:

1.	Open AD Sites and Services.
2.	Click the plus sign (+) to expand the Sites tree.
3.	Right-click Subnets and choose New and Subnet.
4.	Enter the address prefix using network prefix notation. This requires the address and the prefix length, where the prefix length shows the number of fixed bits in the subnet. The example shown in Figure 5 uses the 192.168.80.0/24 subnet, providing us with a Class C (255.255.255.0) subnet. Next, select a site to associate with the subnet and click OK. Figure 5. Associate a subnet to a site.

Perform the same steps to create a second subnet and associate it with the second site.

Configuring a Global Catalog Server

By default, the first domain controller in a domain is automatically configured as a global catalog server. Any additional domain controllers need to be configured manually.

To configure or verify that a domain controller is a global catalog server, follow these steps:

1.	Open AD Sites and Services.
2.	Click the plus sign (+) to expand the Sites tree.
3.	Expand the desired site name, the Servers folder, and then the server object.
4.	Right-click the NTDS Settings object, and then click Properties.
5.	On the General Tab, ensure the Global Catalog check box is marked if you want the server to be a global catalog server (as illustrated in Figure 6). When ready, click OK. Figure 6. Configuring a global catalog server.