The Windows 2000/2003 global catalog is created on the forest root domain controller when DCPROMO is run for the first time, and this server is known as the Global Catalog Server.

You can set up any server to be a Global Catalog Server by going to the Active Directory Sites and Services MMC and in the console tree, right-clicking the NTDS Settings of the server you want to make into a Global Catalog Server and selecting PROPERTIES.

On the GENERAL tab of the PROPERTIES page for that server, check the GLOBAL CATALOG checkbox and select OK.

Partition Replication

The Windows 2000/2003 Active Directory is partitioned in three distinct parts.

• Schema Partition. The information in the Schema Partition defines all objects and their allowed attributes and is common to all domains in the forest. This partition is replicated to all domain controllers in the forest.


• Configuration Partition. The Configuration Partition outlines your domain structure and replication topology. This information is common to all domains in the forest. This partition is replicated to all domain controllers in the forest.


• Domain Partition. The Domain Partition references data objects of a given domain. This information is commonly relevant to only the single domain, it is not shared, and this partition is replicated to all domain controllers in the domain only. It is a subset of this data from all objects in all domains (partial replica) that is stored in the global catalog.

All of the objects in every domain, and a subset of the properties (partial replica) of all objects in a forest, are replicated to the global catalog.

Domain controllers have the responsibility of replicating:

• The schema and configuration partitions for the forest.
• The domain partition for the local domain, within the local domain and a subset of the properties (partial replica) of all objects of the local domain to the global catalog.

Global Catalog servers have the responsibility of replicating:

• The schema information for a forest
• The configuration information for all domains in a forest
• A subset of the properties (partial replica) for all directory objects in the forest (replicated between global catalog servers only)
• All directory objects and all their properties for the local domain.