Determining Your RMS Topology

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

In a basic RMS topology, the RMS root cluster in each Active Directory forest provides all RMS services for an organization. This RMS topology works well in both large and small organizations. In a distributed RMS topology, one or more licensing servers can be installed as a licensing-only cluster and provide some or all of the licensing services to specific users and groups that are in the organization. Although the root cluster continues to provide the account certification and activation proxy services for the entire organization, the distributed RMS topology is designed for organizations that have very specific licensing needs and that want to keep control of RMS in a segment of their organization.

Although there are only two basic topologies for RMS, the components of the topologies can be very different. To define the components that are appropriate for your organization and to create the right topology for the deployment of RMS, you must:

• Evaluate organizational requirements and goals.

• Define how rights management is to be used.

• Analyze the projected traffic patterns and loads for implementing an appropriate level of service.

Defining the topology and making the decisions that are required to implement your design is an iterative process that will continue throughout your RMS deployment planning.

This topic covers:

• Identifying Core Components

• Establishing Topology Objectives

• Defining the Scope of the RMS Implementation

• Evaluating Scaling Requirements

• Providing Redundancy and Load Balancing

• Evaluating Migration Requirements

• Planning the Database Server Infrastructure

• Planning for Deployment Across Forests

• Planning for External RMS Users

• Planning a Basic RMS Topology

• Planning a Distributed RMS Topology