Installing an Additional Domain Controller

You can add additional domain controllers by installing AD DS and launching the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard. You are prompted to choose the deployment configuration, enter network credentials, select a domain and site for the new DC, and configure the DC with additional options such as DNS Server, Global Catalog, or Read-Only Domain Controller. The remaining steps are the same as for the first domain controller: configuring file locations and the Directory Services Restore Mode Administrator password.

If you have one domain controller in a domain, and if you select the Use Advanced Mode Installation check box on the Welcome To The Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard page, you can configure advanced options, which are:

• Install From Media: By default, a new domain controller replicates all data for all directory partitions it will host from other domain controllers during the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard. To improve the performance of installation, particularly over slow links, you can use installation media created by existing domain controllers. Installation media is a form of backup. The new DC is able to read data from the installation media directly and then replicate only updates from other domain controllers. Install from Media (IFM) is discussed in the "Installing AD DS from Media" section.
• Source Domain Controller: If you want to specify the domain controller from which the new DC replicates its data, you can click Use This Specific Domain Controller.

Note:
In Windows Server 2003, Dcpromo /adv was used to specify advanced installation options. The /adv parameter is still supported; it simply pre-selects the Use Advanced Mode Installation check box on the Welcome page.

To use Dcpromo.exe with command-line parameters to specify unattended installation options, you can use the minimal parameters shown in the following example:

dcpromo /unattend /replicaOrNewDomain:replica
    /replicaDomainDNSName:google.com /installDNS:yes /confirmGC:yes
    /databasePath:"e:\ntds" /logPath:"f:\ntdslogs" /sysvolpath:"g:\sysvol"
    /safeModeAdminPassword:password /rebootOnCompletion:yes

If you are not logged on to the server with domain credentials, specify the /userdomain and /username parameters as well. A minimal answer file for an additional domain controller in an existing domain is as follows:

[DCINSTALL]
ReplicaOrNewDomain=replica
ReplicaDomainDNSName=FQDN of domain to join
UserDomain=FQDN of domain of user account
UserName=DOMAIN\username (in Administrators group of the domain)
Password=password for user specified by UserName (* to prompt)
InstallDNS=yes

ConfirmGC=yes
DatabasePath="path to folder on a local volume"
LogPath="path to folder on a local volume"
SYSVOLPath="path to folder on a local volume"
SafeModeAdminPassword=password
RebootOnCompletion=yes