http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/readyfsmo-roles-active-directory-windows-2008-server Lot of applications now-a-days use Active Directory. If you associate your application with username that is part of a domain environment, or the computer where you have installed your application is the member of domain, it can be used for authentication or for many other purposes. Hence, it's somewhere linked with your Windows AD. If you are using Windows AD in your environment it's essential to understand FSMO roles that maintains Active Directory health. So to understand the importance, in this article you will learn what are the roles, its features, and how to seize them in case of any failures. Flexibility Schema Operations Master (FSMO) Roles in 2008 Server As we are all aware that certain tasks needs to be performed by single one, so as far AD 2008 goes some tasks are performed by single domain controller and they jointly called as FSMO roles. There are five roles: ...