All valid points indeed. I prefer to test changes in a lab first using prod like hardware (for obvious reasons). I therefore avoid the VM approach for those reasons. I prefer to implement a change freeze for the duration of any major changes. If a "rogue" / "friendly" admin makes a mod and disrupts the change then he/she will be looking on jobserve [or regional equivalent] within the next few hours :/ Your points are valid - I simply thought I'd express another way of attacking the same 'issue'. neil
_____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Grillenmeier, Guido Sent: 17 November 2006 11:33 To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] How to completely isolate a DC? This is a common procedure, but realize that it will still not completely isolate replication - forced replication will still go through (i.e. in an out of the 'schema mod' site). You may not do the forced replication yourself, but if some other "friendly" administrator chooses to do so in order to troubleshoot something else (e.g. via repadmin or replmon), your protection is gone. As such physical isolation is really your only option if you really want to isolate a DC. The Problem: you can't do all updates on a DC that's not connected to a network (e.g. schema updates don't tend to work since it can't look up the schema master, even if the role is held on the same machine etc.). The Solution: there are many, but my favorite is simply to use VMs. You can then add a couple of DCs as VMs on the same host and potentially move them to your special site. You can then switch from bridged networking to host-only networking so that these DCs are completely isolated from the network but can still communicate between each other. This will allow you to test that these will still replicate fine after the update. Once the tests have proven to work fine, you can switch back to bridged networking and replicate the changes out. Naturally, you can do the same with physical hardware and a separate network - it's just so much easier using virtualization technologies. /Guido From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, November 17, 2006 10:20 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] How to completely isolate a DC? In the example of a schema mod, I tend to: 1. Move the schema master FSMO role holder DC to a 'schema mod' site 2. Change the replication schedule for all site links where this site participates, so that replication is stopped in and out of the schema mod site 3. Make the schema change on the DC in the schema mod site 4. Test the change 5. Change replication schedules back so that the change propagates to other sites Obviously, you need to wrap some processes and procedures around the above but you get the idea ... :) neil _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Andy Wang Sent: 16 November 2006 20:20 To: [email protected] Subject: [ActiveDir] How to completely isolate a DC? I need to make a change across our domain. My plan is to make the change on one DC and test it, then roll out to other 50 DCs. I tried to temporarily disable outbound replication of Active Directory with repadmin by doing this: repadmin /options +DISABLE_OUTBOUND_REPL To my surprise, the change I made still replicated to other DCs immediately. So how can I isolate a DC and make sure the change I made not replicate to other DCs? Thanks for your help! Andy PLEASE READ: The information contained in this email is confidential and intended for the named recipient(s) only. If you are not an intended recipient of this email please notify the sender immediately and delete your copy from your system. You must not copy, distribute or take any further action in reliance on it. Email is not a secure method of communication and Nomura International plc ('NIplc') will not, to the extent permitted by law, accept responsibility or liability for (a) the accuracy or completeness of, or (b) the presence of any virus, worm or similar malicious or disabling code in, this message or any attachment(s) to it. 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