Windows Forum

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Offsite Backup domain controller

0 helpful
15 replies

by sola.b

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

My company,s PDC is in London. We are planning on setting up a BDC in Liverpool. There is a 56k kilostream line connecting London branch to Liverpool branch.
How do I set up a BDC in Liverpool that will recognise the PDC in London? I have tried everything. NO SUCCESS. ( I have added a new BDC name and IP address to the PDC in London through the server manager. I have manually added the IP address in WINS. STILL no success). WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!

15 replies

by Former member

I assume this 56k line is a site-to-site leased line. THere is a point if I remember correctly in the Setup of an NT server where you can configure the LMHOSTS file. YOu will need to do this. I do not remember the exact syntax for PDC entries in a LMHOSTS file, but microsoft's technet does. www.microsoft.com/technet

by frank.peeters

The LMHOSTS entry you need on the BDC looks like the following:

111.111.111.111 "ABCDE \0x1B"

Replace the IP address by the one from the PDC and ABCDE by the domain name. Make sure the backslash is exactly on the 16th position of the character string (i.e. NetBIOS name type).

by nettek

For some reason BDCs seem to have a difficult time finding domain controllers over a 56k line, as opposed to T1 or ISDN.

You probably have already done the following, but I'll list them anyway: Make sure your router in Liverpool is configured properly. During setup, make sure you install the router's IP address as the gateway on the BDC, and also put in the IP address of your WINs server. If this does not work, you have the option during setup to import an LMHOSTS file.

In the future, you may want to consider another route. Install the BDC in London on the LAN, then ship it to Liverpool and simply change the TCP/IP settings.

by tgotschall

Back to basics a second. Can you ping the host using the Netbios name from both ends? (PDC->BDC and BDC->PDC). If not can you ping the IP? I'm running several BDC's on Frame links using only WINS but I have set WINS to replicate between sites. This will also allow browsing accross the WAN. Good luck.

by mark_lt

Why not create a new Domain in Liverpool, and have trusts between the 2? I do this with the manin Domain in London, and a remote site in Scotland that uses a 64 dial up isdn to relay mail etc., this way network traffic is kept to bare essentials,after all you can only do so much with 56k ?

For me this works, but my Scotish Domain is quite small and does not require much admin time.

by rmiller

1. Be aware that when a BDC is present all logins are done through the BDC NOT the PDC. Anytime someone logs onto the network in London it would go over the leased line to the BDC to do it!
2. If when the BDC was set up it didn't connect to the PDCyou won't get it to work, they won't have matching SID's, you'd have to reinstall the BDC from scratch.
3. Best situation is to have 2 PDC's and create a 2 way trust over the 56k line. All security issues are handled by the local server but other server would be accessable from either location.

by rmiller

1. Be aware that when a BDC is present all logins are done through the BDC NOT the PDC. Anytime someone logs onto the network in London it would go over the leased line to the BDC to do it!
2. If when the BDC was set up it didn't connect to the PDCyou won't get it to work, they won't have matching SID's, you'd have to reinstall the BDC from scratch.
3. Best situation is to have 2 PDC's and create a 2 way trust over the 56k line. All security issues are handled by the local server but other server would be accessable from either location.

This discussion is closed to new replies.