Configuring Active Directory Sites and Services
As
previously stated, for Exchange Server 2013 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 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 use 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, we will use SunnyvaleCA.
5. Click to highlight DEFAULTIPSITELINK, and then click OK.
6. Review the Active Directory Domain Services message box (shown in Figure 6) and ensure the configuration was successful, and then click OK.
Figure 6. 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 7
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.
Perform the same steps to create a second subnet and associate it with the second site.
Figure 7. Associate a subnet to a 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 8). When ready, click OK.
Figure 8. Configuring a global catalog server.
