Cloud hosting for windows domain controller, possible

active-directorycloud-hosting

We currently host our own domain controller (small company) locally on dedicated h/w. However to mitigate disaster we're considering the use of virtualisation and cloud hosting.

One thought is

Virtual primary domain controller hosted in the cloud + a local (secondary) virtualised server running in the office as a cache?

Is this possible or should I consider something else? We're happy to pay for the decent hosting and DR but this is really out of my experience.

Best Answer

If security isn't a huge concern, I would recommend using Amazon's EC2 instance. If bandwidth is an issue, you could very easily use the /async switch for replication. Joe Field has an excellent article on how to host Windows Domain in the Cloud

Related Solutions

Windows – Can’t log in using second domain controller when first DC is unreachable

Check to make sure that BOTH are Global Catalogs.

Howto:

1.) Open Active Directory Sites and Services.

2.) Scroll down, expand the site that your DC's are in. Expand
`Servers'.

3.) Expand each of your DC's so that they're showing `NTDS Settings'.

4.) Right-click on 'NTDS Settings', select `Properties'.

5.) Ensure that the `Global Catalog' checkbox on each is checked.

DISCLAIMER:

I'm assuming that you've already checked your replication, made sure everything else is working properly, etc. This is intended to be a quick-check option.

Active Directory – How to Find Name of Active Directory Domain Controller

On any computer, that has DNS configured to use AD's DNS server do:

Start -> Run -> nslookup

set type=all
_ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.DOMAIN_NAME

Replace DOMAIN_NAME with the actual domain name e.g. example.com. Read more here.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – Can’t log in using second domain controller when first DC is unreachable

Active Directory – How to Find Name of Active Directory Domain Controller

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