Chapter 8. Global Catalog and Domain Controller Placement

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Active Directory Structure

• Examining the Role of Domain Controllers in AD

• Defining the Global Catalog

• Exploring DSAccess, DSProxy, and the Categorizer

• Understanding AD Functionality Modes and Their Relationship to Exchange Groups

• Best Practices

There is simply no way around it; Active Directory is a critical and necessary component of any Exchange Server 2003 deployment. When Exchange lost its directory component with the introduction of Exchange 2000, the result was a lot of grumbling about the learning curve associated with Active Directory. The advent of Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003, brought the optimization and simplification of the Active Directory environment. Lessons learned from Windows 2000 Active Directory have been integrated into the newest version of Active Directory, which is available with Windows Server 2003.

Notwithstanding the improvements, there is still a great deal of misunderstanding about Active Directory and its core components. The Global Catalog, for example, is a critical component of Exchange and requires a solid grasp of its concepts.

This chapter explains the relationship between Exchange Server 2003 and Active Directory and how the placement of domain controllers and global catalog servers affects it. Components of Exchange Server 2003 that access Active Directory are explained, and troubleshooting techniques for directory access problems are detailed. In addition, this chapter offers best practice recommendations for domain controller and Global Catalog placement and presents detailed fine-tuning information.