FSMO Roles overview

When it comes to Windows Server every Admin should be aware on the Topics like Active Directory, Global catalog,  DNS, DHCP and Most important one is FSMO roles and much more.

FSMO (Flexible Single Master Operations) or in simple Operations Master includes 5 roles which are shown below

• Schema Master
• Domain naming master
• Infrastructure Master
• Relative ID (RID) Master
• PDC Emulator

Each role has is own task and lets learn more on this with the help of this below presentation.

http://www.2shared.com/document/_jkiMq_i/OperationsMasters.html

Once we know all these we need to know which server is currently holding the FSMO roles, review the below excellent article which provides you with various methods to identify which Server has these roles.

 

http://blogs.technet.com/b/mempson/archive/2007/11/08/how-to-find-out-who-has-your-fsmo-roles.aspx

There will be scenarios when we require to transfer these roles to another Server and this requires proper planning and care while performing the activity. Review the below guided article to know more on this.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/832.transferring-fsmo-roles-in-windows-server-2008.aspx

Finally, Now we have Windows Server 2012 Launched and Organizations started to deploy the servers in to production, and also major Organizations already upgraded their Domain Controllers to Windows Server 2008 editions. and its time for us to know how to transfer the roles from Windows Server 2008 to 2012. Check this below blog post from MSExchange Team for this activity with guided steps.

http://msexchangeteam.in/moving-fsmo-roles-from-windows-server-2008-r2-to-windows-server-2012-domain-controller/