Sites and Subnets

The Sites and Subnets of an Active Directory define the association between domain controllers and locations and enable association of domain-joined clients with specific domain controllers. Each Site is a named collection of one or more domain controllers as well as one or more subnets. Domain-joined clients locate the closest domain controller by querying Active Directory for the sites and subnets then selecting a domain controller from with the site where the subnet best matches the IP address on the client.

The Austin Active Directory defines multiple sites and subnets to associate domain controllers with specific physical locations both on-campus and in the cloud. The Austin Active Directory also defines abbreviated site codes to provide a shortened reference to an appropriate site. The site codes are split into two general groups: campus site codes and cloud site codes. Campus site codes are simple abbreviations (aus, atx, pub, etc.) while cloud site codes follow a general rule: first character is the cloud provider, second and third characters are abbreviations for specific regions in the cloud provider (sites in AWS start with 'w' while sites in Azure start with 'z').

Sites in the Austin Active Directory - Current

Sites in the Austin Active Directory - Future

References

• Designing the Site Topology | Microsoft Docs