RE: [ActiveDir] finding GCs

[Gil Kirkpatrick]

Title: Message

Mark,   If your developers are using ADSI, they can use the "GC:" prefix and serverless binding in their bind string to connect to a nearby GC.   If they are using LDAP, they should use DsGetDcName() function from the Platform SDK and set the bit that indicates they want to locate a GC.   If this isn't an option, you can search the CN=Sites, CN=Configuration, DC=... container for objects of class ntDSDSA and inspect the 0x01 bit of the "options" attribute. This is set when a DC has been successfully promoted to a GC.   Checking the isGlobalCatalogReady operational attribute of rootDSE will only tell you if the DC you've connected to is a global catalog that is ready to service GC requests; it doesn't help you find a GC to begin with, and may be set to false when the GC is otherwise busy.   -gil Gil Kirkpatrick CTO, NetPro Author of "Active Directory Programming" Find AD problems you don't even know you have! Register today for NetPro's FREE DirectoryAnalyzer Rapid Deployment Program! www.netpro.com/welcome/rapid/index.cfm   -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mulnick, Al Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 11:14 AM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] finding GCs IIRC You're looking for the isGlobalCatalogReady attribute.  If set to true, then it's a global catalog.  If not, then it's just a DC.   Al From: Creamer, Mark [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 12:41 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [ActiveDir] finding GCs Our developers put together a web site on our intranet last year that allows privileged users to add members of their staff to various groups. It works great, except that now we are in native mode and are using some universal groups. The app will work properly as long as it happens to hit a DC that is also a GC. But from what they're telling me, it won't work for Universals if the app searches for a DC and finds one that does not happen to be a GC.   So what I'm looking for, is whether there is a LDAP query component that they can use in their app that will always only find DCs that are also GCs?   Thanks,   Mark Creamer Systems Engineer Cintas Corporation Honesty and Integrity in Everything We Do