Configure a domain controller to advertise its services to multiple sites

This article describes how to configure a domain controller to advertise its services to multiple sites. When a server is promoted to domain controller, the subnet the server is in is evaluated to determine which site the server is a member of based on the configuration defined in Active Directory. By default, a domain controller is a member of only one site.

This Site information is used for several purposes, including Active Directory replication topology, helping Microsoft Windows 2000 clients and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 clients to find local resources, and reducing network traffic on inter-site connections. This may be useful if you want to configure specific domain controllers to be available to respond to client requests from a given site in the event that no domain controllers are available in the client's site.

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To configure a domain controller to advertise its services to multiple sites, use Registry Editor to add a new REG_MULTI_SZ value named "SiteCoverage" (without the quotation marks) with a data value of list of sites on separate lines under the following registry key:In the previous example, list of sites on separate lines is a list of sites such as the following example:

Second site name
Third site name
Fourth site name

Note Modifying this registry value does not automatically create the objects in Active Directory that are used to evaluate the site that your Windows 2000-based computer exists in. Refer to the product documentation for information about creating and implementing sites.