Hello ITPro! I have a question regarding Microsoft Active Directory and Inter-site Replication. In the case of 4 different sites with Domain Controllers deployed at each. Let's say your network IS NOT fully routed.. Sites 1, 2, and 3 can communicate in a fully routed manner, but site 4 can ONLY communicate with site 1 due to network limitations.. Site 1 is the primary corp office and many of the changes in AD will occur there. Single domain environment.
In my lab I have built the following site link topology.
Step 1: Disable Inter-Site IP Property "Bridge all site links".
Step 2: Create the following site links and add sites respectively. No bandwidth concerns, all costs set to 100.
site1-to-site2 (Cost 100, interval 15)
site1-to-site3 (Cost 100, interval 15)
site1-to-site4 (Cost 100, interval 15)
Step 3: Create site link bridge "site2-site3-bridge" and add the following site links to the bridge.
site1-to-site2
site1-to-site3
With the above configuration I am seeing the KCC create replication "connections" automatically from Site Domain Controllers 2, 3, and 4 to site 1 as I expected. However I am a bit confused as to the behavior of the site link bridge in this deployment example. I assumed by disabling "Bridge all site links" and creating a bridge that contained links site1-to-site2 and site1-to-site3 would allow "connections to be made between site 2 and site 3 automatically without the need of creating an additional site link.
Could someone better explain the purpose of a site link bridge and how best to utilize it?
Regards,
Adam Tyler