Can I Look at My Connection Objects and Schedule Details?

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

Every domain controller that is also a member of the SYSVOL replica set has to have at least one inbound connection. Otherwise, Active Directory and File Replication Service (FRS) would not replicate inbound. The /showconn subcommand is very useful to verify this especially:

  • When you don’t have access to the graphical user interface (GUI)

or

  • When you find it task-oriented to directly connect to the various domain controllers from the user interface (UI) to look at Active Directory topology from the perspective of that domain controller.

    The /showconn subcommand displays the connection objects for a specified domain controller. The default is the local site.

Syntax

repadmin /showconn <DC_LIST> {<ServerRDN> | <ContainerDN> | <DC_GUID>} [/From: <ServerRDN>] [/intersite]

Parameter

Definition

<DC_LIST>

Specifies the host name of a domain controller from where to read the configuration, or a list of domain controllers separated by a space. For details about <DC_LIST>, see repadmin /listhelp.

<ServerRDN>

Specifies the relative distinguished name of a server.

<ContainerDN>

Specifies the distinguished name of a container.

<DC_GUID>

Specifies the unique hexadecimal number that identifies the domain controller. The globally unique identifier (GUID) can be retrieved by using the /showreps operation.

/intersite

Displays only those connection objects that are between sites.

Example: Simple usage of /showconn

Figure 3.7.1 shows a simple example of output returned by /showconn.

C:\>repadmin /showconn branch1
Base DN: CN=BRANCH1,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=contoso,DC=com
=====  KCC CONNECTION OBJECTS  =================================
Connection --
     Connection name : ed5e0d25-bec3-4556-9f18-f24cf4ea3a57
     Server DNS name : BRANCH1.research.contoso.com
     Server DN  name : CN=NTDS Settings,CN=BRANCH1,CN=Servers,CN=BRANCH1,CN=Sites,CN=C
onfiguration,DC=contoso,DC=com
          Source: HUB\BRANCH-HUB-BH
               No Failures.
          TransportType: IP
          options:  isGenerated overrideNotifyDefault
          ReplicatesNC: DC=DomainDnsZones,DC=research,DC=contoso,DC=com
          Reason:  IntersiteTopology
               Replica link has been added.
          ReplicatesNC: DC=ForestDnsZones,DC=contoso,DC=com
          Reason:  IntersiteTopology
               Replica link has been added.
          ReplicatesNC: CN=Configuration,DC=contoso,DC=com
          Reason:  IntersiteTopology
               Replica link has been added.
          ReplicatesNC: DC=research,DC=contoso,DC=com
          Reason:  IntersiteTopology
               Replica link has been added.
1 connections found.

In the example in figure 3.7.1, there is only one connection object for the BRANCH1 site. It is also automatically created (options: isgenerated). Depending on the number of connection objects, we may have to further qualify our query to just list what we are interested in such as in the following cases:

Figure 3.7.2

repadmin /showconn BRANCH1 CN=HUB,CN=Sites,CN=Configuration,DC=contoso,DC=com /intersite /v
Here repadmin contacts BRANCH1 DC and list all the incoming intersite connections for HUB site with verbose details.

Figure 3.7.3

repadmin /showconn BRANCH-HUB-BH BRANCH-HUB-BH /from:BRANCH3
Here repadmin contacts the BRANCH-HUB-BH DC which is also located in the HUB site and displays just the connection object from BRANCH3 DC to BRANCH-HUB-BH.

With the verbose switch, showconn provides you much more information such as the following:

  • Connection replication schedule

  • Partition Replication Schedule Loading

Figure 3.7.4 Connection replication schedule

day: 0123456789ab0123456789ab
Sun: ffffffffffffffffffffffff
Mon: ffffffffffffffffffffffff
Tue: ffffffffffffffffffffffff
Wed: ffffffffffffffffffffffff
Thu: ffffffffffffffffffffffff
Fri: ffffffffffffffffffffffff
Sat: ffffffffffffffffffffffff

Every single number of the above represents one hour of the day as a decimal 4-bit value. Each single bit represents 15 minutes of this hour.

So if we have “1” in decimal, then one bit is set in binary (0001) and we replicate once per hour in which case the output will be:

111111111111111111111111

If the decimal value is five (0101 in binary) we replicate twice per hour, for example:

555555555555555555555555

Finally if it is F (1111) we replicate four times per hour:

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

So in our example we replicate four times per hour for the entire week.