How to Set Up a Referral in Microsoft Metadirectory Services (250481)

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Referrals are used to create a pointer on one server that refers a client program to information stored on other server. For example, when a user issues a data base query, the client program retrieves the results from the connected server, and then retrieves any appropriate data from the referred server.

To set up a referral:

1. Using Compass, click The Known Universe.
2. Select the directory entry for your context prefix.
3. Right-click the entry and then click Insert.
4. In the Relative name box, type the name of the primary organizational unit (OU) of the other MMS servers.
5. Click the appropriate OU.
6. Click Insert, click OK, and then click Cancel
7. Click > to close the Insert object dialog box.
8. Click the newly created entry.
9. In the action panel, click Action, and then click Administration.
10. On the Entry Administration dialog box, click the References tab.
11. In the Referral LDAP and HTTP Server URLs box, type the Domain Name Service (DNS) name and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) port number of your secondary directory server.
12. Under Chasing Referrals, click Always chase, and then click OK.

NOTE: The default setting for chasing referrals is to not chase referrals. Changing this setting may cause increased network traffic. It is important to make sure that using a referral is appropriate for your server situation, because there can be network performance and other related issues when you are using referrals. The primary concern to administrators is that using referrals requires user programs to make network connections to two or more servers, and the resulting network traffic can have a negative impact on overall network performance. An alternative to setting up a referral is to set up a replication agreement. For additional information about setting up a replication agreement, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: