Our small (about 20 people) 2-site company is branching out. We have been running as 1 external and 1 internal Windows 2000/AD domain. We are adding a 2nd external email domain with its own 2nd internal Windows domain for our 2nd site. Email and data files will be separated between each domain, while there will be full access to the data with people from each domain able to work on files in both domains. The teams from both domains will work closely together on the same data in a full trust relationship. We plan 1 FE and 2 BE (one for each domain) Exchange 2003 Standard servers. The question: Is it advisable/required to do keep both entities in one forest or can we/should we go with separate forests (each domain will have 2 fileservers in addition to its own Exchange server?) Page 175 of the Exchange 2003 Deployment Guide briefly states that the FE and BE's must be in the same forest. Page 27 of the Planning Guide says you can use multiple forests and use something like Microsoft Identity Integration Manager (MIIS) to synchronize between the forests. There is a business distinction between the two entities. At the same time everybody will be working closely together and we don't desire over complexity. Thank you very much for advice and any pointers for how-to resources or tools.
Hi, A front end server can only be used in one forest so if you have 2 forests the users from the second forest won't be able to use the fe. Whether it is adviseable to have 2 forests or 2 domains is in my opinion more of a political question. With the tight operation you are going to have I would recommend 1 forest and 2 domains (unless one part of the company is going to be sold - in this case it is easier to seperate the infrastructure with 2 forests). Leif "Neilrahc" wrote in message news:49A7E10B-9B24-4CF4-937F-729F8C0190EC@microsoft.com... > Our small (about 20 people) 2-site company is branching out. We have been > running as 1 external and 1 internal Windows 2000/AD domain. We are adding > a > 2nd external email domain with its own 2nd internal Windows domain for our > 2nd site. Email and data files will be separated between each domain, > while > there will be full access to the data with people from each domain able to > work on files in both domains. The teams from both domains will work > closely > together on the same data in a full trust relationship. > > We plan 1 FE and 2 BE (one for each domain) Exchange 2003 Standard > servers. > > The question: Is it advisable/required to do keep both entities in one > forest or can we/should we go with separate forests (each domain will have > 2 > fileservers in addition to its own Exchange server?) > > Page 175 of the Exchange 2003 Deployment Guide briefly states that the FE > and BE's must be in the same forest. Page 27 of the Planning Guide says > you > can use multiple forests and use something like Microsoft Identity > Integration Manager (MIIS) to synchronize between the forests. > > There is a business distinction between the two entities. At the same time > everybody will be working closely together and we don't desire over > complexity. > > Thank you very much for advice and any pointers for how-to resources or > tools. > > > >
Thank you, Leif - this is just what we needed to clarify this issue :-) "Leif Pedersen [MVP]" wrote: > Hi, > > A front end server can only be used in one forest so if you have 2 forests > the users from the second forest won't be able to use the fe. > > Whether it is adviseable to have 2 forests or 2 domains is in my opinion > more of a political question. With the tight operation you are going to have > I would recommend 1 forest and 2 domains (unless one part of the company is > going to be sold - in this case it is easier to seperate the infrastructure > with 2 forests). > > Leif > > > "Neilrahc" wrote in message > news:49A7E10B-9B24-4CF4-937F-729F8C0190EC@microsoft.com... > > Our small (about 20 people) 2-site company is branching out. We have been > > running as 1 external and 1 internal Windows 2000/AD domain. We are adding > > a > > 2nd external email domain with its own 2nd internal Windows domain for our > > 2nd site. Email and data files will be separated between each domain, > > while > > there will be full access to the data with people from each domain able to > > work on files in both domains. The teams from both domains will work > > closely > > together on the same data in a full trust relationship. > > > > We plan 1 FE and 2 BE (one for each domain) Exchange 2003 Standard > > servers. > > > > The question: Is it advisable/required to do keep both entities in one > > forest or can we/should we go with separate forests (each domain will have > > 2 > > fileservers in addition to its own Exchange server?) > > > > Page 175 of the Exchange 2003 Deployment Guide briefly states that the FE > > and BE's must be in the same forest. Page 27 of the Planning Guide says > > you > > can use multiple forests and use something like Microsoft Identity > > Integration Manager (MIIS) to synchronize between the forests. > > > > There is a business distinction between the two entities. At the same time > > everybody will be working closely together and we don't desire over > > complexity. > > > > Thank you very much for advice and any pointers for how-to resources or > > tools. > > > > > > > > > > >
