I would like to know what FSMO roles are and what would happen if one role has failed. Automatically, who are assigned as FSMO? Would there be a difference in transferring and seizing an FSMO role? Please explain what role should we avoid seizing and why.
Hi Jennifer,
FSMO or Flexible Singe Master Operations are specialized domain controllers with different set of tasks where data transfer and updating methods are used. There are at least 5 FSMO roles in a forest. They are Schema Master, Domain Naming Master, Infrastructure Master, Relative ID(RID) Master and PDC Emulator.
If an FSMO role failed, it can be seized and transferred to another domain controller then back again once the system is back online.
It would not be best to seized Domain naming master, Schema master and RID master as after they were seized you could not bring online the domain controller performing the role previously.
Aristono
FSMO stands for “Flexible Single-Master Operation”. It is a feature in Microsoft Active Directory. It is a specialized domain controller task used when update methods and standard data transfer are insufficient. Tasks that don’t fit multimaster replication are only workable as FSMO. Multimaster models have several operators which are held by a single master. This problem is fixed by applying several operations to a single domain controller.
One domain controller holds the role for a specific operation and is the single master for that operation. These operation masters are what you call FSMOs or Flexible Single-Master Operations. Domain controllers can have one or more FSMO roles. These are functionalities related to the Windows 2000 Active Directory service which is distinct within the domain.
