Improve network management efficiency with read-only Domain Controllers

Overview of read-only domain controllers in Windows Server 2008

Since the Windows 2000 operating system, the Active Directory has become a standard in Windows operating system network management, all network activities, including the login process, verification, domain name system, and other domain functions, are under control. The emergence of multi-master domain controllers and replication brings the goal of global network management integration closer.

In Windows Server 2008, the Active Directory function is improved, and the read-only domain controller is one of these improvements. This feature enables faster verification of remote active directory information without affecting the security of servers and remote terminals, and helps them obtain resources more quickly. It achieves this by providing a read-only copy containing most of the Active Directory information for the Windows Server 2008 Domain Controller on the remote terminal,

Improved security during login

User authentication information, including account name and password, cannot be copied to the read-only domain controller server. In this way, the loss caused by the time the server is compromised can be controlled, without affecting the use of usernames and passwords in the entire active directory database. When the user requires authentication time, information will be queried in the local read-only domain controller, rather than copying the authorization certificate.

If no information is found in the local copy of the Active Directory database, the request will be submitted to another domain controller in the network to confirm the user's permissions. Once you have obtained authentication, you can save the information locally. When you log on again, you can use the cached copy of the authorization certificate to speed up logon.

When the authorization certificate changes-for example, when the user password has expired-the read-only domain controller analyzes the login and the password cannot match the password in the cache, the request is forwarded to another domain controller. In this case, the damage to the server itself will be reduced when the user password is lost.

Domain name systems become more secure

Another advantage of the read-only domain controller is that the copied Domain Name System is also read-only. All Domain Name System Information in the Active Directory will be copied to the read-only domain controller, but the copied domain name system will not be updated. Registration or update must be performed on another domain controller.

These updates are then copied to the read-only domain controller. The query and naming solutions run the same way as in general. As long as you run a copy of the domain name system locally, the user experience can be improved. The cache information of the domain name system will also be copied to the read-only domain controller.

This configuration can improve the overall performance of the network and the performance of remote office terminals using active directories. However, you need to pay attention to the following aspects during the Configuration:

The first domain controller in Windows Server 2008 cannot be a read-only domain controller in an existing Active Directory environment. In Windows Server 2008, you must first install a full-featured domain controller to replicate read-only domain controllers.

Before installing the first read-only domain controller, you must run the Active Directory preparation tools adprep and rodcprep to ensure that the installation of the read-only domain controller is licensed.

In any case, the read-only domain controller cannot be a Global Catalog server, nor can it be used as a host operation role in a directory environment.

The release of the Windows Server 2008 operating system will greatly help read-only domain controllers in a distributed network environment. I also hope that you can learn more about this knowledge and content.