2.8 Domain Controller Placement

If you place domain controllers for one domain in multiple locations, you must use the Sites and Subnets feature. This helps to achieve optimal login performance for the clients by enabling them to connect to the closest available domain controller.

We recommend that you specify proper location names when specifying a site name, and that you avoid changing the site name later.

We recommend that you have at least two domain controllers per domain for fault tolerance.

Novell recommends you to add more domain controllers to a specific location based on the usage and the number of concurrent connections. The ideal configuration depends on factors such as domain controller concurrency, login traffic expected at fixed intervals, and expected growth. Thus, the recommendations described in Section 2.8.4, Domain Controller Capacity are only indicative, and will need to be adjusted to suit your specific enterprise needs. Defining a configuration that provides the expected performance for an enterprise is a continuous process and needs to be worked out carefully.

DSfW depends on many core services that are mutually dependent. Ensure that these services get enough resources such as Memory and CPU. Non-availability of resources for any of the DSfW services might lead to domain malfunction and slowness at the client workstation.

For an enterprise with user base up to 2000 users per domain and associated resources such as user workstations and shares, you must have at least two domain controllers. Each Domain controller must have at least 8 GB RAM and a Quad-Core CPU. For an enterprise with more than 2000 and less than 5000 concurrent logged in users per domain, you must have at least 4 Domain Controllers. Each Domain Controllers must have at least 16 GB RAM and a Quad-Core CPU.