Identifying Core Components

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To establish an appropriate topology, it is important that you understand the basic components of a RMS deployment and the roles that they play. The following list identifies the servers that will be a part of your RMS deployment:

  • Root cluster. The root cluster is the first component of an RMS deployment; all other components depend on it. The root cluster runs all of the RMS services, including the account certification service that provides rights account certificates to the RMS clients in the organization. There can be only one root cluster in each Active Directory forest. However, you can add multiple servers to the root cluster to be used for redundancy and load balancing. All servers that are part of the root cluster use the same configuration database that was defined when you provisioned the first server of this cluster.

  • Licensing-only cluster. A licensing-only cluster is optional and is not part of the root cluster; the licensing-only cluster server is, however, subenrolled under the root cluster. A licensing-only cluster depends on the root cluster for certification and other services (it cannot provide account certification services), but the licensing-only cluster does run licensing services to provide both publishing licenses and use licenses. Multiple servers can be added to the licensing-only cluster to set up redundancy and load balancing. All servers that are in the licensing-only cluster use the same configuration database that was defined when you provisioned the first licensing-only server of this cluster.

  • Servers running infrastructure components. Additional servers that are in your deployment can provide the necessary infrastructure, including components such as SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005 and Active Directory. Where you deploy these components and the number of servers that are required depends on your requirements.

The RMS topology designed for your organization must address the deployment of each of these components.