Configure a Domain Controller for Membership in Multiple Sites

ID: Q200498

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

SUMMARY

This article describes how to configure a domain controller for membership in multiple sites, or how to specify additional sites that the domain controller advertises its services to. When a server is promoted to domain controller, the subnet the server is in is evaluated to determine which site the server is a member of based on the configuration defined in Active Directory. By default, a domain controller is a member of only one site.

This Site information is used for several purposes, including Active Directory replication topology, helping Windows 2000 clients to find local resources, and reducing network traffic on inter-site connections. This may be useful if you want to configure specific domain controllers to be available to respond to client requests from a given site in the event that no domain controllers are available in the client's site.

MORE INFORMATION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

To configure a domain controller for membership in multiple sites, or to specify additional sites that the domain controller advertises its services to, use Registry Editor to add a new REG_MULTI_SZ value named "SiteCoverage" (without the quotation marks) with a data value of list of sites on separate lines under the following registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon\Parameters

where list of sites on separate lines is a list of sites such as the following example:

Second site name
Third site name
Fourth site name

NOTE: Modifying this registry value does not automatically create the objects in Active Directory that are used to evaluate the site that your Windows 2000-based computer exists in. Refer to the product documentation for information about creating and implementing sites.

For more information about the Service Location (SRV) records that are written to DNS, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q178169 DNS Records Registered by Windows NT 2000 Domain Controllers

Additional query words: snap-in services manager authentication dc locator

Keywords : kbnetwork kbtool
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto