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I Want to Make Windows Server 2012 a Global Catalog Server

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This Tutorial addresses:
  • Windows Server
  • Active Directory
  • Domain Controller
  • Servers
When you install the very first Windows Server 2012 Active Directory domain controller in your network, it is automatically promoted as a Global Catalog server, and no manual intervention is required. However if you promote other Windows Server 2012 computers to the Active Directory domain controllers, the configuration process prompts you to use the server as a Global Catalog server as well. If you did not choose to use the additional domain controller as the Global Catalog server at the time of configuration, you can go through the instructions given in this tutorial that would guide you through the process of promoting a Windows Server 2012 Active Directory domain controller as a GC.

For obvious reasons, i.e. in order to reduce the additional consumption of network bandwidth, make sure you do not promote all the available Active Directory domain controllers to the Global Catalog servers. As a best practice, you should always configure the Active Directory domain controllers as the Global Catalog servers only when the domain is scattered in multiple sites. One Global Catalog server per site would be fine.

Here is how you can make a Windows Server 2012 Active Directory domain controller a Global Catalog server:

  1. Using the Enterprise Admin or Domain Admin account credentials, log on to the target Windows Server 2012 Active Directory domain controller that you want to promote as a Global Catalog server.

  2. If not already initialized, start the Server Manager window from the bottom left corner of the screen.

  3. On the opened Server Manager window, go to the Tools menu from the menu bar.

  4. From the displayed list, click Active Directory Sites and Services.



  5. On the opened Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in, from the left pane, expand Active Directory Sites and Services (DC-01.MYDOMAIN.COM) > Sites > Default-First-Site-Name > Servers > DC-01. (Where DC-01.MYDOMAIN.COM and DC-01 are the Fully Qualified Domain Name and the hostname of the target Active Directory domain controller that you want to be promoted as a Global Catalog server in this demonstration respectively.).

  6. From the expanded tree, right-click the NTDS Settings option, and go to the Properties from the context menu.



  7. On the displayed NTDS Settings Properties box, make sure that the General tab is selected.

  8. On the displayed interface, check the Global Catalog checkbox to promote the target Active Directory domain controller to a Global Catalog server.



  9. Once done, click OK to save the changes, and close the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in.

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