HP CIFS Server 3.0d Administrator's Guide version A.02.02 (Edition 5)

NT Style Domains
Introduction
Chapter 4 77
• HP CIFS BDCs may be configured to off load some of the HP CIFS
PDC authentication responsibilities and can be promoted to a PDC if
the PDC fails or needs to be taken out of services.
Primary Domain Controllers
The Primary Domain Controller (PDC) is responsible for several tasks
within the domain. These include:
• Authenticating user logons for users and workstations that are
members of the domain
• Acting as a centralized point for managing user account and group
information for the domain
• A user logged on to the Primary Domain Controller (PDC) as the
domain administrator can add, remove or modify Windows domain
account information on any machine that is part of the domain
Backup Domain Controllers
Advantages of Backup Domain Controllers
HP CIFS Server with BDC support provides the following benefits to the
customer:
• The BDC can authenticate user logons for users and workstations
that are members of the domain when the wide area network link to
a PDC is down. A BDC plays an important role in both domain
seurity and network integrity.
• The BDC can pick up network logon requests and authenticate users
while the PDC is very busy on the local network. It can help to add
robustnees to network services.
• The BDC can be promoted to a PDC if the PDC needs to be taken out
of services or fails. This is an important feature of domain controller
management. To promote a BDC to a PDC on the HP CIFS Server,
change the domain master parameter from "no" to "yes".
Limitations
The following is a list of limitations for the BDC support:
• HP CIFS Server can only function as a BDC to an HP CIFS PDC.