Share via

Step 3: Practice Managing Site Link Objects

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

You can use site link objects in the directory to represent low-speed bandwidth connections between the sites on your network. Site link objects help you tune replication on your network. You can use them to determine the relative cost of replication across each site link.

You can use the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in to connect to your Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) instance so that you can define site link objects. Managing site link objects includes the following tasks:

  • Create a site link object

  • Set the cost on a site link object

  • Configure replication frequency on a site link object

  • Configure replication availability on a site link object

The default site (CN=Default-First-Site-Name) belongs to the default site link object (CN=DEFAULTIPSITELINK). You can add new sites that you create to the default site link object. You can also create additional site link objects to represent each of the actual site links on your network.

In the following exercise, you create a site link object for the two site objects that you created in the previous step.

Membership in the Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local and Domain Default Groups (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).

  1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Sites and Services.

  2. In the console tree, right-click Active Directory Sites and Services, and then click Change Domain Controller. Specify the name and the port number of the server that holds the AD LDS instances in the configuration set for which you want to create site objects.

    For the purpose of this exercise, select the server name and the port number of your original AD LDS instance or your replica AD LDS instance.

Note

For more information about connecting to an AD LDS instance using the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in, see "Step 3: Practice Using AD LDS Administration Tools" in the Step-by-Step Guide for Getting Started with Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=98679).

  1. In the console tree, double-click the Sites container, double-click the Inter-Site Transports container, right-click the IP container, and then click New Site Link.

  2. In Name, type the common name (CN) of the new site link object, for example, SiteLink1.

  3. In the Sites not in this site link list, select the site names to be placed in the new site link object, click Add to add them to the Sites in this site link list, and then click OK.

    For the purpose of this guide, add Site1 and Site2 to the SiteLink1 object.

Note

At this point, your original AD LDS instance and your replica AD LDS instance are in two different sites; therefore, all changes to your AD LDS directory objects are now subject to intersite replication. To view the replication interval during which the site link object that you just created will be replicated to your other AD LDS instance, see the Replication Interval column for the newly added site link object in the details pane of the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in. The default replication interval for site link objects is 180 minutes.

Each site link object in the directory has an associated cost. You can edit the cost attribute on a site link object to specify the relative cost of replication across that site link. AD LDS takes into consideration site link costs when it builds the replication topology. AD LDS considers a site link with a higher cost to be less desirable than a site link with a lower cost. When multiple paths for replication are available, AD LDS prefers the site link with the lower cost.

Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local and Domain Default Groups (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).

  1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Sites and Services.

  2. In the console tree, right-click Active Directory Sites and Services, and then click Change Domain Controller. Specify the name and the port number of the server that holds the AD LDS instances in the configuration set for which you want to create site objects.

    For the purpose of this exercise, select the server name and the port number of your original AD LDS instance or your replica AD LDS instance.

Note

For more information about connecting to an AD LDS instance using the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in, see "Step 3: Practice Using AD LDS Administration Tools" in the Step-by-Step Guide for Getting Started with Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=98679).

  1. In the console tree, double-click the Sites container, double-click the Inter-Site Transports container, and then click the IP container.

  2. In the details pane, right-click the site link object for which you want to set the cost, and then click Properties.

    For the purpose of this guide, select SiteLink1.

  3. In the Properties dialog box, use the up and down arrow buttons to edit the value of the Cost field.

AD LDS preserves bandwidth between sites by making it possible for you to minimize the frequency of replication or the replication interval. By default, intersite replication across each site link occurs every 180 minutes (3 hours). You can adjust this frequency to match your specific needs. Be aware that increasing this frequency increases the amount of bandwidth that is used by replication.

Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local and Domain Default Groups (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).

  1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Sites and Services.

  2. In the console tree, right-click Active Directory Sites and Services, and then click Change Domain Controller. Specify the name and the port number of the server that holds the AD LDS instances in the configuration set for which you want to create site objects.

    For the purpose of this exercise, select the server name and the port number of your original AD LDS instance or your replica AD LDS instance.

Note

For more information about connecting to an AD LDS instance using the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in, see "Step 3: Practice Using AD LDS Administration Tools" in the Step-by-Step Guide for Getting Started with Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=98679).

  1. In the console tree, double-click the Sites container, double-click the Inter-Site Transports container, and then click the IP container.

  2. In the details pane, right-click the site link object for which you want to configure the replication interval, and then click Properties.

    For the purpose of this guide, select SiteLink1.

  3. In the Properties dialog box, use the up and down arrow buttons to edit the value of the Replicate every field.

AD LDS preserves bandwidth between sites by making it possible for you to schedule the availability of site links for replication. By default, a site link is available to carry replication traffic 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can limit this schedule to specific days of the week and times of day. You can, for example, schedule intersite replication so that it occurs only after normal business hours.

Membership in Administrators, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at Local and Domain Default Groups (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477).

  1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Sites and Services.

  2. In the console tree, right-click Active Directory Sites and Services, and then click Change Domain Controller. Specify the name and the port number of the server that holds the AD LDS instances in the configuration set for which you want to create site objects.

    For the purpose of this exercise, select the server name and the port number of your original AD LDS instance or your replica AD LDS instance.

Note

For more information about connecting to an AD LDS instance using the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in, see "Step 3: Practice Using AD LDS Administration Tools" in the Step-by-Step Guide for Getting Started with Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=98679).

  1. In the console tree, double-click the Sites container, double-click the Inter-Site Transports container, and then click the IP container.

  2. In the details pane, right-click the site link object for which you want to schedule availability, and then click Properties.

    For the purpose of this guide, select SiteLink1.

  3. In the Properties dialog box, click Change Schedule, select the block of time for which you want to schedule replication, and then click Replication Not Available or Replication Available.

  4. When you are finished updating the schedule, click OK.