Read-only domain controllers were introduced with Windows Server 2008. They have been hugely popular for providing Active Directory Domain Services to branch offices and small perimeter networks.
Read-only domain controllers are the ideal type of domain controllers for environments with the following:
- Poor physical security
- Relatively few user accounts and/or devices
- Relatively poor bandwidth to central datacenters with domain controllers
- Little local IT knowledge and/or experience
These characteristics are typically true for branch offices. Before read-only domain controllers, administrators had to make the hard choice between doing nothing, placing fully (read-write) domain controllers in these locations, or upgrading the available bandwidth and/or resiliency of the networking connections between the branch offices and the...
