Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2
A ___domain controller is a server that is running a version of the Windows Server® operating system and has Active Directory® Domain Services installed.
Note
In Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server, the directory service is named Active Directory. In Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008, the directory service is named Active Directory Domain Services. The rest of this topic refers to AD DS, but the information is also applicable to Active Directory.
When you install Windows Server on a computer, you can choose to configure a specific server role for that computer. When you want to create a new forest, a new ___domain, or an additional ___domain controller in an existing ___domain, you configure the server with the role of ___domain controller by installing AD DS.
By default, a ___domain controller stores one ___domain directory partition consisting of information about the ___domain in which it is located, plus the schema and configuration directory partitions for the entire forest. A ___domain controller that runs Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2003 can also store one or more application directory partitions. There are also specialized ___domain controller roles that perform specific functions in an AD DS environment. These specialized roles include global catalog servers and operations masters.
Global Catalog Servers
Every ___domain controller stores the objects for the ___domain in which it is installed. However, a ___domain controller designated as a global catalog server stores the objects from all domains in the forest. For each object that is not in the ___domain for which the global catalog server is authoritative as a ___domain controller, a limited set of attributes is stored in a partial replica of the ___domain. Therefore, a global catalog server stores its own full, writable ___domain replica (all objects and all attributes) plus a partial, read-only replica of every other ___domain in the forest. The global catalog is built and updated automatically by the AD DS replication system. The object attributes that are replicated to global catalog servers are the attributes that are most likely to be used to search for the object in AD DS. The attributes that are replicated to the global catalog are identified in the schema as the partial attribute set (PAS) and are defined by default by Microsoft. However, to optimize searching, you can edit the schema by adding or removing attributes that are stored in the global catalog.
The global catalog makes it possible for clients to search AD DS without having to be referred from server to server until a ___domain controller that has the ___domain directory partition storing the requested object is found. By default, AD DS searches are directed to global catalog servers.
The first ___domain controller in a forest is automatically created as a global catalog server. Thereafter, you can designate other ___domain controllers to be global catalog servers if they are needed.
Operations Masters
Domain controllers that hold operations master roles are designated to perform specific tasks to ensure consistency and to eliminate the potential for conflicting entries in the Active Directory database. AD DS defines five operations master roles: the schema master, ___domain naming master, relative identifier (RID) master, primary ___domain controller (PDC) emulator, and infrastructure master.
The following operations masters perform operations that must occur on only one ___domain controller in the forest:
Schema master
Domain naming master
The following operations masters perform operations that must occur on only one ___domain controller in a ___domain:
Primary Domain Controller (PDC) emulator
Infrastructure master
Relative ID (RID) master