Hello all

I have setup a new Windows 2003 single DC which is by all I have read the GC as well. I wish to install a new DC for redundancy DNS, WINS. However I have questions

1. If I have DC1 how do I make it redundant? I mean should WINS, DHCP & DNS be on a second DC
2. And if yes to question 1, will users be able to log into the network still? Granted any shares on DC1 would be inaccessable if it went offline. But would users still be able to authenticate and get to other shares on the network
3. If no to question 1 then what is the best possible scenario for a small business who wishes to keep high uptime and have a redundant network
4. I have read that the DC should not be the GC in a multiple domain envoronment. And what is the proper procedure

Thanks for the hel

See my responses in-line.

Devin M wrote:

Yes, you can certainly place those services on the second DC for
fault-tolerance. Ideally your DNS should be Active Directory Integrated
on both servers. WINS servers simply have to be replication partners to
one another. DHCP is trickier since you don't want them handing out
duplicate IPs. Assuming the servers are on the same subnet and only
handing out IPs for that one subnet, try putting half of the DHCP scope
on one server, half on the other (e.g. x.x.x.50-100 on DC1, x.x.x.101-50
on DC2).

You bet. That's the whole idea, right?

A Global Catalog server MUST be a Domain Controller, no choice. Every GC
is a DC, though not every DC is a GC. What you may have read is the
recommendation that the GC should not be the Infrastructure Master (one
of the FSMO roles) in a multiple domain environment, and this is true.
Don't worry about it unless you have more than one domain; if you do,
just move either the GC or Infrastructure Master role to the new DC.

One other thought: have you or will you be implementing Exchange Server?
If so, it's a good idea to have two GCs for fault tolerance, because
Exchange relies on them heavily. If you only have one domain and two
DCs, enable the GC role on the second DC (it's disabled on all but the
first DC by default).