Planning to Deploy ADFS

Applies To: Windows Server 2003 R2

After you collect information about your environment and you decide on an Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) design by following the guidance in the ADFS Design Guide, you can begin to plan the deployment of your organization's ADFS design. With the completed ADFS design and the information in this topic, you can determine which tasks to perform to deploy ADFS in your organization.

Reviewing your ADFS Design

If the design team that constructed the original ADFS design for your organization is different from the deployment team that will actually implement the deployment, make sure that the deployment team reviews the final design with the design team. Review the following points regarding the ADFS design:

• The design team's strategy to determine the best physical topology for the placement of ADFS servers in your corporate network or perimeter network. The deployment team can refer to documentation about this subject by reviewing the following topics in the ADFS Design Guide:

  • Planning Federation Server Placement

  • Planning Federation Server Proxy Placement

  • Planning ADFS-Enabled Web Server Placement

  It is possible that the design team might leave the subject of ADFS server placement for the deployment team. The deployment team is then responsible for documenting and implementing the physical topology of ADFS servers. The deployment team can review the preceding topics, Planning for ADFS Capacity and Appendix A: Reviewing ADFS Requirements to help determine the number of servers and the hardware requirements for the organization.

• The business reasons for your organization's designation as a resource partner, account partner, or both within the scope of the documented ADFS design. Ensure that members of the deployment team understand the reasons why ADFS is being deployed and what other companies or organizations are involved in the federation partnership. Ensure that members of the deployment team also understand the constraints that exist for the other companies or organizations (limited hardware, no extranet environment, and so forth) that may limit the scope of the design in some way. For more information about partner organizations, see Planning Partner Organization Deployments.

After the design teams and deployment teams agree on these issues, they can proceed with the deployment of the ADFS design. For more information, see Implementing Your ADFS Design Plan.