To
set an additional Domain
Controller as a Global Catalog Server, follow the below
steps:
- Open Active Directory Sites and
Services, click Start >
Administrative Tools > then click
Active
Directory Sites and Services.

- From the left side pane, expand
Sites >
Default-First-Site-Name ( If you have
renamed the Site name, then this name will reflect
your Site name) > Servers > Domain
Controllers .

-
Now expand
the Windows Server 2008 that you want to set as a Global
Catalog and right Click its NTDS Settings
then click on Properties

- Under the General
Tab, there is a check box beside Global
Catalog, if it is unselected then this means
that this Domain Controller is not a Global Catalog,
if you do want to set it as a Global Catalog server,
then select this checkbox and click on Apply
then OK.
The process it takes the Global
Catalog to replicate itself throughout the forest
takes time depending on your Active Directory
infrastructure.

- Close
Active Directory Sites and
Services and then restart the Domain Controller.
Summary
A global catalog server is a
domain controller that, in addition to its full,
writable domain directory partition replica, also stores
a partial, read-only replica of all other domain
directory partitions in the forest. In this article, I
have shown you how easy it is to set an additional
Domain Controller to be configured as a Global Catalog.
Related Articles
How the Global Catalog
Works
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