IFM (Install From Media) can greatly reduce the amount of traffic that is generated during the installation of an additional domain controller in an Active Directory domain. This post will go through the steps necessary to install another domain controller within an existing domain using IFM. There is a video of the steps necessary to install an additional DC from media at the bottom of this post. To view the video you might need to download the VMWare movie codec from here:

http://www.vmware.com/download/eula/moviedecoder_v55.html

Some of the information used in this post is taken from a Microsoft Technet article which can be found here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc816722(WS.10).aspx

There are a number of requirements that need to be considered before using IFM these are as follows.

• You can use IFM to create the first Domain controller in the domain
• The domain controller you are setting up with IFM must be a member of the same domain
• If the new Domain Controller is to be a Global Catalog server the IFM media must be created using an existing GC
• If the new Domain Controller is to be a DNS server you must create the installation media on a DC that is already a DNS server for the domain
• To create installation media for a full (writable) DC, you must run the ntdsutil ifm command on a writable domain controller that is running Windows Server 2008 or 2008 R2
• To create installation media for a Read Only Domain controller (RODC) you can run the ntdsutil ifm command on either a writable domain controller or a RODC that is running Windows Server 2008 or R2. For the RODC installation media ntdsutil removes any cached secrets, such as passwords.
• You can use a 32bit domain controller to create the media for a 64bit one and vice versa
• To include the SYSVOL folder, the domain controller on which you generate the installation media and the domain controller that you plan to create must be running at least the release candidate (RC) version of windows Server 2008.

I started by using a virtual machine to set up a Windows 2008 DC, I then created a new OU in Active Directory with three users in as shown below.

Now open a command prompt as an Administrator and type the following then press return.

The output below will be displayed

I then logged in to the other server that I want to promote and copied the IFM folder from the first DC to the root of the C: drive. If the DC was in a different building or even a different continent you could burn the contents of this folder to DVD this means that when the new server is promoted replication traffic will be kept to a minimum.

Now run dcpromo /adv this will install Active Directory on the new server using Advanced Mode which will allow us to use IFM.

Click Next and Next again on the Operating System Compatibility dialog. On the next screen select the options below.

On the next screen configure the domain name that you are joining the new DC to and set the Alternate credentials then click next. Click Next on the Select a Domain screen & the Select a Site screen.

On the Additional Domain Controller Options screen you can select if you want  the DC to be a Global Catalog server a DNS server or a Read Only Domain Controller (RODC) select the appropriate options and click next.

The Install From Media dialog will appear now we want to select Replicate data from media at the following location and specify the IFM folder we created earlier (or the DVD drive if it was burnt to DVD)

On the next screen choose a replication partner for the new DC.

Click next to accept the default location for the AD database and log files and configure a Directory Services Restore mode password then click Next on the Summary screen. The AD installation will begin and the information will be copied into AD from the IFM folder we created. Only objects that have been created on other DCs within the domain since we created the IFM folder will be replicated to this new DC

Below is a link to a movie showing the whole process.

windows_server_2008_install_from_media