create and configure an Active Directory site

This article describes how to create and configure an Active Directory site in a Windows 2000-based environment. The procedures in this article must be performed by a member of the Administrators group on a Windows 2000 Server-based computer. For additional conceptual information about sites, see the "Reference" section in this article.

How to Create a Site
1. Click Start , point to Programs , point to Administrative Tools , and then click Active Directory Sites and Services.
2. In the console tree, right-click the Sites folder, and then click New Site .
3. In the Name box, type the name for the new site.
4. Under Link Name , click a site link object, and then click OK .


How to Associate a Subnet with the New Site

1. In the Active Directory Sites and Services console tree, right-click the subnet with which you want to associate the site, and then click Properties .
2. In the Site box, click the new site, and then click OK .

How to Move a Domain Controller to the New Site
1. In the Active Directory Sites and Services console tree, right-click the domain controller that you want to move to a different site, and then click Move .
2. In the Move Server dialog box, click the site to which you want to move the domain controller, and then click OK .
Note that you can also use this procedure to move servers between sites.


How to Delegate Control
1. In the Active Directory Sites and Services console tree, right-click the container whose control you want to delegate, and then click Delegate control to start the Delegation of Control wizard.
2. In the Delegation of Control wizard, click Next to continue.
3. Click Add .
4. In the Name box, click the appropriate user or group, and then click Add . Repeat this step for all users or groups that you want to add, and then click OK .
Note that you can delegate control for the Subnets, Inter-Site Transports, Sites, and Server containers by using the Active Directory Sites and Services tool. You can delegate control of an object to specify who has permission to access or modify that object or its child objects.










SUMMARY
This step-by-step article describes how to create and configure a site link in Active Directory. Note that for the site link to become active, there must be at least two sites available in Active Directory.

A Site Link object represents a set of sites that can communicate at uniform cost through an inter-site transport. For IP transport, a typical site link connects just two sites and corresponds to an actual wide area network (WAN) link. An IP site link that connects more than two sites might correspond to an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) backbone that connects more than two clusters of buildings on a large campus, or several offices in a large metropolitan area that are connected through leased lines and IP routers.

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Requirements
The procedure in this article uses the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in. You can use this snap-in only from a computer that has access to a Windows 2000-based domain. The Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in is installed on all Windows 2000-based domain controllers. To use the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in on a computer that is not a domain controller, such as a computer that runs Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, install the Windows 2000 Administration Tools package.

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How to Create a Site Link
To create a new site link:
1. Click Start , point to Programs , point to Administrative Tools , and then click Active Directory Sites and Services.
2. Expand the Inter-Site Transports node (if it is not already expanded), right-click IP (or click SMTP if you want to use SMTP as the inter-site transport protocol), and then click New Site Link .

NOTE : If you have only one site in Active Directory, you receive a message that states that two sites are required for the site link to work. Click OK to continue.

You then see your new link in the Details pane if you click the IP node in the Inter-Site Transports node (or in the SMTP node if you created the link with the SMTP transport.)

Rename the DC

If the DC's domain level is set to "Windows Server 2003," you can use the Netdom tool to rename the DC. Microsoft supplies Netdom as part of the Windows Support Tools, which are available from the Windows 2003 installation CD-ROM. To rename the DC using Netdom, perform the following steps:
1. Start a command-prompt session.
2. Add the new name to the current server (it will now have two names) by typing
3. netdom computername address> /add:
For example, when I typed
netdom computername gotham.savilltech.com /add:omega.savilltech.com
my computer displayed the following message:
Successfully added omega.savilltech.com as an alternate
name for the computer.

The command completed successfully.
4. If multiple DNS servers are used, you must wait until the new name replicates to all authoritative DCs. After the new name has replicated, continue to the next step.
5. Make the new name the primary name for the machine by typing
6. netdom computername computer name/IP address> /makeprimary:
For example, when I typed
netdom computername
gotham.savilltech.com /makeprimary:omega.savilltech.com
my computer displayed the following message:
Successfully made omega.savilltech.com the primary
name for the computer. The computer must be rebooted for
this name change to take effect. Until then this computer
may not be able to authenticate users and other computers,
and may not be authenticated by other computers in the
forest. The specified new name was removed from the list
of alternate computer names. The primary computer name will
be set to the specified new name after the reboot.

The command completed successfully.
7. Reboot the computer.
8. After you reboot the machine, wait until all the domain locator records replicate to all authoritative DNS servers. After the replication is complete, check to ensure that the rename worked successfully by checking the name on the Computer Name tab of the Control Panel System applet. You can also view all computer names by typing
netdom computername /enumerate
For example, when I typed
netdom computername omega.savilltech.com /enum
my computer displayed the following:
All of the names for the computer are:
omega.savilltech.com
gotham.savilltech.com

The command completed successfully.
9. You can now remove the old name by typing
10. netdom computername /remove:name>
For example, when I typed
netdom computername
omega.savilltech.com /remove:gotham.savilltech.com
my computer displayed the following:
Successfully removed gotham.savilltech.com as an alternate
name for the computer.

The command completed successfully.
You can enumerate the names again to show the old name has been removed.