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Allocating Domain Controllers - Exercise

Objective: Plan the appropriate allocation and placement of domain controllers in a multisite network.

Scoring

This exercise is worth 10 points. To receive full credit, write a clear paragraph in response to each question. When you are finished, submit all three responses at once.

Scenario

Your company has two geographically separated locations: a headquarters office in Austin, TX, and a branch office in San Jose, CA. The computers in each office belong to separate sites. The company network is organized into two domains: corp.com and it.corp.com. Information technology personnel in both offices log on to the it.corp.com domain. All other employees log on to the corp.com domain. The two offices are connected by a 56K WAN link.

Your Task

Based on the scenario and what you know about domain controllers, answer the questions below. Consider availability, authentication latency, and conserving bandwidth across the WAN link.

1) How many domain controllers do you recommend for this network? Why?

2) Where would you place each domain controller?

3) Describe the role(s) of each domain controller.

Submitting Your Solution

When you are ready, click Submit. Your responses will be sent to the exercise result page for review.

Hints

  • Assume the WAN link is slow and should be protected from unnecessary authentication and replication traffic.
  • Think about fault tolerance: what happens if one domain controller is offline?
  • Consider whether each location needs local logon authentication for both domains.