Setting Default Domain Controller

I am migrated some of our test users in Australia to AD, but am finding that
the logon is very slow because for some reason the clients will use one of
the DC's in our Hong Kong office to log on with. Occasionally they will log
on to our local DC in Australia, and other times to a DC in Hong Kong. Is
there a way to set in Group Policy which Domain Controller the users can log
on to? This way I can set them all to log on to our local DC each time.

Kind Regards,
Andrew Ridgway

"Andrew Ridgway" <Andrew > wrote in message
news:95D10CAE-4FDD-4927-B4E6-...
>I am migrated some of our test users in Australia to AD, but am finding
>that
> the logon is very slow because for some reason the clients will use one of
> the DC's in our Hong Kong office to log on with. Occasionally they will
> log
> on to our local DC in Australia, and other times to a DC in Hong Kong. Is
> there a way to set in Group Policy which Domain Controller the users can
> log
> on to? This way I can set them all to log on to our local DC each time.
>


Andrew DC selection is driven by AD Site membership. So check this first to
ensure that all the machines and Servers are correctly assigned to a Site.
You can also change the location behaviour by modifying the Priority and
Weighting on the SRV records. So your clients may look at a specific DNS
server and this can be configured to force them to use a specific server in
preference either within the sit or from the rest of the pool once you have
to look outside your site due to poor response times from the DCs within
your site.

--

Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
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"Andrew Ridgway" <Andrew > wrote in message
news:95D10CAE-4FDD-4927-B4E6-...
>I am migrated some of our test users in Australia to AD, but am finding
>that
> the logon is very slow because for some reason the clients will use one of
> the DC's in our Hong Kong office to log on with. Occasionally they will
> log
> on to our local DC in Australia, and other times to a DC in Hong Kong. Is
> there a way to set in Group Policy which Domain Controller the users can
> log
> on to? This way I can set them all to log on to our local DC each time.
>
> Kind Regards,
> Andrew Ridgway

This is usually because of a misconfiguration in the sites and subnet
associations in DSSITE.MSC. Double check the subnets, the sites and which
are associated with which. Also ensure that the server objects that
represent your DCs are indeed in the correct sites (if they existed before
the site was created they don't automatically move).

As for the answer to your question, no you cannot do this via GPO. There is
a way of weighting and prioritising the DNS SRV RRs, but this is usually
only for very specific reasons. You should troubleshoot this first, as it
is usually a misconfiguration.

--
Paul Williams
Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - Directory Services
http://www.msresource.net | http://forums.msresource.net