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Administering replication and configuration sets

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003 R2

Administering replication and configuration sets

In Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM), replication within a site occurs automatically, and it does not require any configuration beyond the construction of configuration sets. For replication between sites, you can specify a schedule for replication. For example, you may want replication to occur only during the night, when your network is not busy. If the ADAM instance replication partners do not all belong to Active Directory domains, you must use identical local service account names and passwords to enable replication.

Notes

  • You can only join an ADAM instance to a configuration set using the ADAM Setup Wizard or during an unattended ADAM installation. After an ADAM instance is installed, it cannot be joined to a configuration set.

  • ADAM does not support replication using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).

Scheduling replication

For replication between ADAM instances within a site, you can schedule the amount of time that elapses after the last change notification before a default replication event occurs. For more information, see Configure replication frequency within a site.

For replication between ADAM instances in different sites, you can schedule the availability of the site link that exists between the two sites. For more information, see Configure replication availability on a site link.

For more information about replication within and between sites, see Understanding ADAM sites and replication.

Authenticating ADAM replication partners

Considerations for replication authentication in ADAM include the authentication level of the configuration set, which is determined by the domain, forest, or workgroup environment, and the service accounts that are in use by the ADAM instances in the configuration set. For information about authentication levels, see Understanding ADAM replication and configuration sets. For information about service account requirements, see Selecting an ADAM service account.

Operations master roles

Each ADAM instance belonging to a given configuration set operates with equal authority. However, certain activities that are performed with a given configuration set should only be performed by a single ADAM instance. These activities include schema management, to prevent conflicting schema changes, and instance naming management, to prevent conflicting directory partition names. The ADAM instances that are responsible for these activities are called, respectively, the schema master and the naming master. ADAM assigns these roles automatically. You can also reassign these roles, as may be required, for example, if an ADAM instance that holds one of the operations master roles stops responding or goes offline. For information about reassigning operations master roles, see Identify or transfer the schema master role and Identify or transfer the naming master role.

Schema master

The schema master instance controls all updates and modifications to the schema within a given configuration set. To update the schema, you must be a member of the ADAM Administrators group on the configuration set. You must also be able to connect successfully to the schema master. Each configuration set can contain only one schema master.

Naming master

The ADAM instance that holds the naming master role controls the addition and removal of directory partitions, or naming contexts, in a given configuration set. Each configuration set can contain only one naming master.