Recommendations from the Windows Server 2003 Branch Office Guide That Still Apply to RODCs

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

The following table lists some of the recommendations from the Windows Server 2003 Branch Office Guide that still apply to installations of read-only domain controllers (RODCs).

Recommendation

Reason

In most cases, organizations with many branch offices choose to disable the Bridge all site links option. However, each organization must assess for itself the advantages and disadvantages of disabling this option. For more information, see Enabling the Bridge All Site Links Option.

Prevents Active Directory replication on a domain controller from failing over to another branch office when the hub site is temporarily unavailable. Also reduces the load on the domain controllers in the hub site.

Make all domain controllers in branch offices be global catalog servers.

User logons in a multidomain forest require either a global catalog or universal group caching to be enabled for the site. We recommend whenever possible that you use a global catalog server in the branch office, rather than enabling universal group caching.

All domain controllers in the branch offices are Domain Name System (DNS) servers. They should point to themselves as the preferred DNS server and another DNS server in a hub site as an alternate DNS server.

Provides fast local name resolution of resources. If the wide area network (WAN) fails, client computers can still find resources in their local branch offices.

Client computers and server computers in the branch offices should be configured with at least two DNS server IP addresses.

The DNS client should be configured to use a preferred DNS server that is located in the same branch office or at least in the same site. The alternate DNS server should be a DNS server in the datacenter (hub site).

Branch office client computers look up DNS data on a domain controller in the branch office. If the WAN fails, client computers can still find resources in their local branch offices.