If you extend the Active Directory schema for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, you can publish Configuration Manager sites to Active Directory Domain Services so that Active Directory computers can securely retrieve site information from a trusted source. Although publishing site information to Active Directory Domain Services is not required for basic Configuration Manager functionality, this configuration can reduce administrative overhead.

When you extend the Active Directory schema for Configuration Manager and a site is configured to publish to Active Directory Domain Services, Configuration Manager clients can automatically find management points through Active Directory publishing using an LDAP query to a global catalog server. If you do not extend the Active Directory schema for Configuration Manager, management points cannot be published to Active Directory Domain Services and clients must have an alternative mechanism to locate their default management point. For information about service location by clients, see the Planning for Service Location by Clients section in the Planning for Communications in Configuration Manager topic.

The following are prerequisites you must configure before a Configuration Manager site can publish site data to Active Directory Domain Services:

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