Replication Topology

Brian · Guest

We recently moved away from the single-site model, moved our DC's into
appropriate sites, assigned subnets as appropriate. We have about 7 sites
now in AD including our main site, all with DC's. The remaining sites
subnets that do not have a DC on-site are assigned to the main site (which
has 4 DC's). We migrated about 2 sites per day over a week so we could look
at bandwidth, etc.

Everything is working well, we have decreased bandwidth and sped up logon
processing, share access, etc. for the remote sites that have a DC. No
replication errors.

However, now that it has settled for a few days, the KCC has created a
less-than-desirable replication topology. Essentially, the 4 DC's in our
main site now all partner to each other. Only 1 DC at the main site has a
single link to any of the remote sites, call it Site 2. Then Site 2 DC has a
link to the 1 DC of our Main Site, and links to each of the other DC's in
each Site. However, the other 5 sites, each with 1 DC, now only have 1
replication partner which is the Site 2 DC.

This does not seem right, as what I read says the KCC should balance out so
that every DC has at least 2 replication partners. All sites use the
DEFAULTIPSITELINK transport. All of these sites are connected via a T1 MPLS
link, the main site having a 4-T1 bonded link.

I have chosen one of the other Sites and done the Check Replication Topology
action in the Sites & Services container, but it did nothing to create new
(or more) links.

Any thoughts/ideas? I would like the KCC to manage this rather than
creating manual partners, but I don't understand why it is behaving this way.

Thanks!

Steve B · Guest

Here goes:

Firstly, are you in a single domain model?

Some points to note:

1) Essentially, the 4 DC's in our main site now all partner to each other.

- For intra-site replication, the KCC will create a ring topology.

2) In terms of inter-site replication - if you want replication to occur in
a hub/spoke topology then you need to create a site link from each remote
office to the main office. Each site link only needs to have two sites in it
- i.e. the remote site and the main site.

3) DEFAULTIPSITELINK - you will need to remove all the sites from this link.
I would then rename the link and put the main site and a remote site in it.

4) Let everything replicate before running the KCC- Check replication
topology.

You should not require any manual connection objects.

"Brian" wrote: