Resolution
Can I have multiple DRA primary Administration servers managing the same domain?
goal
Can I install a DRA 7.5 primary Administration server in a domain that a DRA 7.0 or DRA 7.0 SP1 primary Administration server currently manages?
goal
Can I install a DRA 7.x primary Administration server in a domain that a DRA 6.x primary Administration server currently manages?
fact
Directory and Resource Administrator 6.x
fact
Directory and Resource Administrator 7.x
fix
You can install multiple DRA primary Administration servers in a domain and use the primary Administration servers to manage the domain. Two primary Administration servers installed in the same domain can manage the domain independently. You may also install multiple primary Administration servers if you implement more than one Multi-Master Set (MMS) in your environment.
A MMS is a set of multiple Administration servers. Each MMS consists of a primary Administration server and one or more secondary Administration servers. The primary server provides security and domain management as well as account and Exchange management. Each secondary server acts as a supplemental server, providing additional access to enterprise data while allowing you to balance loads and traffic across local or remote locations.
Managing a domain with multiple Administration servers or multiple MMSs is typically not a recommended configuration. When you use multiple primary Administration servers or MMSs to manage a single domain, the DRA security model and configuration information does not replicate between the different primary Administration servers. You must independently maintain DRA security model and configuration information on each primary Administration server, which increases administrative overhead. You must also make any changes to ActiveViews, Roles, Assistant Admins, triggers, policies, and configuration manually on each primary Administration server.
Using multiple Administration servers also does not allow you to specify which Administration server your Assistant Admins can connect to. By default, the Administration server automatically deploys the DRA agent to each domain controller. If you install two Administration servers in the same domain and deploy agents to each domain controller during the installation of each Administration server, the agent will register the domain controller with both Administration servers. By default the agent on the domain controller directs users to the closest Administration server in the user's domain. If the security models are different on each Administration server, the DRA agent may direct an Assistant Admin to an Administration server where they are not defined as an Assistant Admin. The Assistant Admin must then manually specify which Administration server to connect to.