Chapter 14 - Working with Active Directory Sites

Abstract

The chapter discusses the role of sites in the Active Directory infrastructure, and how replication, authentication, and distribution of services information work within and across sites. A site defines the network structure of a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory. A site consists of multiple Internet Protocol subnets linked together by rapid and reliable connections. The primary role of sites is to increase the performance of a network by economic and rapid transmission of data. The other roles of sites are replication and authentication. The Active Directory physical structure manages when and how the authentication and replication must take place. The Active Directory physical structure allows the management of Active Directory replication scheduling among sites. The performance of a network is based on the location of objects and logon authentication as users log on to the network. The Active Directory distributes service-centric information, such as configurations and bindings. The distribution of this type of information enables the services to be more accessible by clients and is easily manageable for administrators.