Set up your system to run federated sites

To prepare your system for Milestone Federated Architecture, you must make certain choices when you install the management server. Depending on how your IT infrastructure is set up, choose between three different alternatives.

Alternative 1: Connect sites from the same domain (with a common domain user)

Before you install the management server, you must create a common domain user and configure this user as the administrator on all servers involved in the federated site hierarchy. How you connect the sites depends on the created user account.

With a Windows user account

  1. Start the installation of the product on the server to be used as the management server and select Custom.
  2. Select to install the Management Server service using a user account. The selected user account must be the administrator account used on all management servers. You must use the same user account when you install the other management servers in the federated site hierarchy.
  3. Finish the installation. Repeat steps 1-3 to install any other systems you want to add to the federated site hierarchy.
  4. Add site to hierarchy (see Add site to hierarchy).

With a Windows built-in user account (network service)

  1. Start the installation of the product on the first server to be used as the management server and select Single Computer or Custom. This installs the management server using a network service account. Repeat this step for all the sites in your federated site hierarchy.
  2. Log into the site that you want as your central site in the federated site hierarchy.
  3. In the Management Client, expand Security > Roles > Administrators.
  4. On the Users and Groups tab, click Add and select Windows User.
  5. In the dialog box, select Computers as object type, enter the server name of the federated site and click OK to add the server to the Administrator role of the central site. Repeat this step until you have added all the federated sites in this way and exit the application.
  6. Log into each federated site, and add the following servers to the Administrator role, in the same way as above:
    • The parent site server.
    • The child site servers that you want to connect directly to this federated site.
  7. Add site to hierarchy (see Add site to hierarchy).

Alternative 2: Connecting sites from different domains

To connect to sites across domains, make sure that the domains trust each other. You set up domains to trust each other in the Microsoft Windows Domain configuration. When you have established trust between the different domains on each site in the federated site hierarchy are placed, follow the same description as described in Alternative 1. For more information about how to set up trusted domains, see the Microsoft website (https://docs.microsoft.com/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-2000-server/cc961481(v=technet.10)/).

Milestone recommends Milestone Interconnect for creating connected multi-site systems with multiple domains.

Alternative 3: Connect sites in workgroup(s)

When you connect sites inside workgroups, the same administrator account must be present on all servers you want connected in the federated site hierarchy. You must define the administrator account before you install the system.

  1. Log into Windows using a common administrator account.
  2. Start the installation of the product and click Custom.
  3. Select to install the Management Server service using the common administrator account.
  4. Finish the installation. Repeat steps 1-4 to install any other systems you want to connect. You must install all of these systems using the common administrator account.
  5. Add site to hierarchy (see Add site to hierarchy).

Milestone recommends Milestone Interconnect for creating connected multi-site systems when the sites are not part of a domain.

You cannot mix domain(s) and workgroup(s). This means that you cannot connect sites from a domain to sites from a workgroup and vice versa.