create and configure an Active Directory site

This article describes how to create and configure an Active Directory site in a Windows 2000-based environment. The procedures in this article must be performed by a member of the Administrators group on a Windows 2000 Server-based computer. For additional conceptual information about sites, see the "Reference" section in this article.

How to Create a Site
1. Click Start , point to Programs , point to Administrative Tools , and then click Active Directory Sites and Services.
2. In the console tree, right-click the Sites folder, and then click New Site .
3. In the Name box, type the name for the new site.
4. Under Link Name , click a site link object, and then click OK .


How to Associate a Subnet with the New Site

1. In the Active Directory Sites and Services console tree, right-click the subnet with which you want to associate the site, and then click Properties .
2. In the Site box, click the new site, and then click OK .

How to Move a Domain Controller to the New Site
1. In the Active Directory Sites and Services console tree, right-click the domain controller that you want to move to a different site, and then click Move .
2. In the Move Server dialog box, click the site to which you want to move the domain controller, and then click OK .
Note that you can also use this procedure to move servers between sites.


How to Delegate Control
1. In the Active Directory Sites and Services console tree, right-click the container whose control you want to delegate, and then click Delegate control to start the Delegation of Control wizard.
2. In the Delegation of Control wizard, click Next to continue.
3. Click Add .
4. In the Name box, click the appropriate user or group, and then click Add . Repeat this step for all users or groups that you want to add, and then click OK .
Note that you can delegate control for the Subnets, Inter-Site Transports, Sites, and Server containers by using the Active Directory Sites and Services tool. You can delegate control of an object to specify who has permission to access or modify that object or its child objects.










SUMMARY
This step-by-step article describes how to create and configure a site link in Active Directory. Note that for the site link to become active, there must be at least two sites available in Active Directory.

A Site Link object represents a set of sites that can communicate at uniform cost through an inter-site transport. For IP transport, a typical site link connects just two sites and corresponds to an actual wide area network (WAN) link. An IP site link that connects more than two sites might correspond to an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) backbone that connects more than two clusters of buildings on a large campus, or several offices in a large metropolitan area that are connected through leased lines and IP routers.

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Requirements
The procedure in this article uses the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in. You can use this snap-in only from a computer that has access to a Windows 2000-based domain. The Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in is installed on all Windows 2000-based domain controllers. To use the Active Directory Sites and Services snap-in on a computer that is not a domain controller, such as a computer that runs Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, install the Windows 2000 Administration Tools package.

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How to Create a Site Link
To create a new site link:
1. Click Start , point to Programs , point to Administrative Tools , and then click Active Directory Sites and Services.
2. Expand the Inter-Site Transports node (if it is not already expanded), right-click IP (or click SMTP if you want to use SMTP as the inter-site transport protocol), and then click New Site Link .

NOTE : If you have only one site in Active Directory, you receive a message that states that two sites are required for the site link to work. Click OK to continue.

You then see your new link in the Details pane if you click the IP node in the Inter-Site Transports node (or in the SMTP node if you created the link with the SMTP transport.)