XADM: Active Directory Connector Does Not Bind to Global Catalog in an Exchange 2000 Organization

If a mixed mode organization contains sites that span multiple domains, or an Exchange 2000 organization contains multiple domain controllers within a domain, replication may not occur, even though Connection Agreements are configured. Microsoft Windows Event Viewer may display the following error message:

This behavior can occur if the Active Directory Connector (ADC) service cannot locate a global catalog server that is running in a domain in which Exchange 2000 Server is installed. The Microsoft Windows 2000 Server endpoint that is specified in the Connection Agreement for replication to another domain is not a global catalog server.

To resolve this behavior, install a global catalog server in every site that is running Exchange 2000.

This behavior is by design.

For performance reasons, Microsoft strongly recommends that you make sure that any Windows 2000-based servers that you use as replication endpoints for Connection Agreements are global catalog servers. Directory Service Access first looks for a global catalog server in an Exchange 2000 site. The ADC Administrator program queries the Connection Agreement Windows 2000 Server endpoints and warns users when the endpoint is not a global catalog server. If the Windows 2000 Server endpoint is not a global catalog server, the ADC must search twice for the global catalog server when the ADC attempts to replicate objects in another domain. If the Windows 2000-based endpoint is a global catalog server, the ADC Administrator sends out a query only once.