How does replication work?
By now, we know the logical and physical components involved with the Active Directory replication process. It is time to put all these together and understand how exactly the Active Directory replication happens.
In the Active Directory environment, there are mainly two types of replication:
- Intra-site replications
- Inter-site replications
Intra-site replications
As the name implies, this covers the replications happening within a site. By default, (according to Microsoft) any domain controller will be aware of any directory update within 15 seconds. Within the site despite the number of domain controllers, any directory update will be replicated in less than a minute:

Within the site, the replication connections are performing in a ring topology, which means any given domain controllers have two replication links (of course, if there are minimum of three domain controllers). This architecture will prevent domain controllers from having endless replication loops.
For...