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Opening AD Users and Computers.

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by tim marshall - houston

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When I open ADU&C, it always connects to a DC in another physical location. How can I make it connect to a specific server each time I open it? Thanks.

9 replies

by will shakespeare

Hi,
I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think you can control which DC you are attached to (like changing Domains/Computers in User Manager for Domains in NT4). AD is spread across the whole Domain, and if make changes to the AD, it doesn't matter whichDC you are connected to, the changes will proliferate (if that's the right word) the whole Domain.
If, on the other hand, you are trying to change local user account information on a particular machine (something that stumped me when I was trying to use AD to do this...), you need to right-click the computer you wish to attach to in the AD list and click Manage. Then Local Users and Groups... Of course you can't do this on any of the DCs, because they use the AD schema.
Hope this helps...

Will

by pan 13 x

open the active directory users and comp. right click on the adu&c at the top of the list above the domain. select either domain or domain controller to switch to other comuters. exit and save the settings and it will come up the same way every time. use the start/run/ ( mmc/a ) to create custom consoles you can have many adu&c connecting to different compter (dc's) or other domains.

by will shakespeare

Hi again Tim,

You might look at whether the computer it connects to is a Global Catalog server. If it is the only one, that might explain why it is connecting to the remote system. To test this, you should make a local DC a Global Catalog server (as far as I know there is no limit to how many you can have), and see if that makes a difference.

Will

by will shakespeare

BTW - to do this, open AD SItes and Services, then right-click on the local DC, and properties. Check the Global Catalog check-box, and then let then close AD S&S.
I'm not sure if it needs time to replicate from the other GC(s), but you can get more info before you do anything here:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/TechNet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/deploy/confeat/06w2kadc.asp

(Don't forget to delete spaces from the url if you cut and paste... delete the %20 symbols, etc...)

by will shakespeare

In case you have trouble opening the above link, I have c'n'p -ed the relevant info here:

Configuring Global Catalogs

Global catalogs have an important role on the network. This role is discussed in the section of Chapter 5 entitled "Understanding the Directory Structure." You configure additional global catalogs by enabling domain controllers to host the global catalog. Additionally, if you have two or more global catalogs within a site, you may want a domain controller to stop hosting the global catalog. You do this by disabling the global catalog on the domain controller.

You enable or disable a global catalog by completing the following steps:

1. Start Active Directory Sites And Services.
In the console tree, expand thetree view for the site you want to work with by clicking the plus sign (+) next to the site name.
2. Expand the Servers folder for the site, and then click the server you want to configure to host the global catalog.
3. In the View pane, right-click NTDS Settings and then select Properties.
4. To enable the global catalog, select Global Catalog on the General tab. An example is shown in Figure 6-15.
5. To disable the global catalog, clear Global Catalog on the General tab.

And that'sall there is to it.

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