Should I split FSMO roles across two DCs?
For a small domain all on one DC is fine; with two DCs splitting is tidier but not required.
Try this first
- 1Five FSMO roles: Schema, Domain Naming, RID, PDC, Infrastructure
- 2PDC emulator hurts most when down
- 3Seize only on a truly lost DC
- 4Document which DC holds what
When to bring us in
During DC migration always transfer cleanly first, never seize as plan A.
See also
- One DC or two DCs for an SMB office?Two is almost always the right answer; one DC is a single point of failure for logon, DNS and GPOs.
- How do I know my AD replication is healthy?Replication errors creep in silently; they only surface when logins or GPOs misbehave.
- Logins are slow at the second office.Subnets are often missing in Sites and Services so clients hit a DC over the WAN.
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