Active Directory 2008 : Configuring Replication (part 3) - Intersite Replication - Creating Connection Objects , Moving Server Objects between Sites

2.2. Creating Connection Objects

Generally, it is a good practice to allow Active Directory's replication mechanisms to automatically schedule and manage replication functions. In some cases, however, you may want to have additional control over replication. Perhaps you want to replicate certain changes on demand (for example, when you create new accounts). Or you may want to specify a custom schedule for certain servers.

Connection objects provide you with a way to set up these different types of replication schedules. You can create connection objects with the Active Directory Sites And Services tool by expanding a server object, right-clicking the NTDS Settings object, and selecting New Active Directory Domain Services Connection (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. Creating a new Active Directory Domain Services connection

Within the properties of the connection object, which you can see in the right pane of the Active Directory Sites And Services tool, you can specify the type of transport to use for replication (RPC over IP or SMTP), the schedule for replication, and the domain controllers that participate in the replication. Additionally, you can right-click the connection object and select Replicate Now.

2.3. Moving Server Objects between Sites

Using the Active Directory Sites And Services tool, you can easily move servers between sites. To do this, simply right-click the name of a domain controller and select Move. You can then select the site to which you want to move the domain controller object.

Figure 4 shows the Move Server dialog box. After the server is moved, all replication topology settings are updated automatically. If you want to choose custom replication settings, you need to manually create connection objects (as described earlier).

Figure 4. Choosing a new site for a specific server