Managing sites

When the first domain controller is introduced into the infrastructure, the system creates its first site as Default-First-Site-Name. This can be changed based on the requirements. We can review the existing sites configuration using the following PowerShell cmdlet:

Get-ADReplicationSite -Filter *

It will list down the sites information for the AD infrastructure.

In our example, it only has the default Active Directory site. As the first step, I need to change it to a meaningful name, so we can assign objects and configurations accordingly. In order to do that, we can use the Rename-ADObject cmdlet:

Rename-ADObject -Identity "CN=Default-First-Site-Name,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=rebeladmin,DC=com" -NewName "LondonSite"

The preceding command will rename the Default-First-Site-Name site to LondonSite. In the existing site, we can change the values using the Set-ADReplicationSite cmdlet:

Get-ADReplicationSite -Identity LondonSite | Set-ADReplicationSite -Description "UK AD Site"

The preceding command changed the site description to UK AD Site.

We can create a new AD site using the New-ADReplicationSite cmdlet. The full description of the command can be viewed using Get-Command New-ADReplicationSite -Syntax:

New-ADReplicationSite -Name "CanadaSite" -Description "Canada AD Site"

The preceding command will create a new AD site called CanadaSite:

Once sites are created, we need to move the domain controllers to the relevant site. By default, all the domain controllers are placed under the default site, Default-First-Site-Name.

Even if you do not want to place a domain controller in a site, it can be assigned to the site aware services, such as DFS and exchange services. Placing a domain controller on site depends on the number of users and link reliability as well.

In the following command, I am listing down all the domain controllers in the Active Directory infrastructure with filtered data to show the Name,ComputerObjectDN,Site attributes values:

Get-ADDomainController -Filter * | select Name,ComputerObjectDN,Site | fl

Now, we have the list of domain controllers, and as the next step, we can move the domain controller to the relevant site:

Move-ADDirectoryServer -Identity "REBEL-SDC-02" -Site "CanadaSite"

The preceding command will move the REBEL-SDC-02 domain controller to CanadaSite.

During the additional domain controller setup, we can define which site it will be allocated to. If the site already has domain controllers, it will do the initial replication from those. But if it doesn't, it will replicate from any selected domain controller or, if not, from any available domain controller. If the link bandwidth is an issue, it's recommended to promote the domain controller from a site that has fast links, and then move the domain controller to the relevant site.

Table of Contents for Managing sites

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Table of Contents for
Managing sites