Active Directory Replication Monitor Features

Active Directory Replication Monitor Features

• 
  Displays whether or not the monitored server is a global catalog server, automatically discovers the directory partitions that the monitored server hosts, graphically displays this breakdown and shows the replication partners that are used for inbound replication for each directory partition. ReplMon distinguishes between direct replication partners, transitive replication partners, bridgehead servers, and servers removed from the network in the user interface. When a failure from a specific replication partner occurs, this is reflected by a change in the icon used for the partner.
  
• 
  Records the history of replication status per-directory partition per-replication partner, allowing a granular history to be generated for what occurred between two domain controllers. This history can be viewed through ReplMon's user interface or can be viewed offline or remotely through a text editor.
  
• 
  Displays properties for direct replication partners including: the name of the domain controller, its GUID, the directory partition that it replicates to the monitored server, the transport used (RPC or SMTP) and distinguishes between intra- and inter-site when remote procedure call (RPC) is used, the time of the last successful and attempted replication events, update sequence number (USN) values, and any special properties of the connection between the two servers.
  
• 
  Allows you to generate a status report for the monitored server which includes: a listing of the directory partitions for the server, the status of replication partners (direct and transitive) for each of the directory partitions, detail on which domain controllers the monitored server notifies when changes have been recorded, the status of any Group Policy objects, the domain controllers which hold the flexible single master operations (FSMO) roles, a snapshot of the performance counters on the computer, and the registry configuration of the server (including parameters for the knowledge consistency checker (KCC), Active Directory, JET, and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). Additionally, you can also choose to record (in the same report), the enterprise configuration which includes: each site, site link, site link bridge, subnet, and domain controller (regardless of domain) and the properties of each type of object just mentioned. For example, for the domain controller properties, this records the GUID that makes up the Domain Name System (DNS) record that is used in replication, the location of the computer account in Active Directory, the Inter-Site mail address (if it exists), the host name of the computer, and any special flags for the server (whether or not it is a global catalog server). This can be extremely helpful when troubleshooting an Active Directory replication problem.
  
• 
  Offers a server wizard so that you can either browse for the server to monitor or you can explicitly enter it. You can also create an .ini file that predefines the names of the servers to monitor, which is then loaded by ReplMon to populate the user interface.
  
• 
  Displays a graphical view of the intra-site topology and, by using the context menu for a given domain controller in the view, allows you to quickly display the properties of the server and any intra-site and inter-site connections that exist for that server.
  
• 
  Allows you to display the properties for the monitored server including: the server name, the DNS host name of the computer, the location of the computer account in Active Directory, preferred bridgehead status, any special flags for the server (for example, if it is the PDC Emulator for its domain or not), which computers it believes to hold the FSMO roles, the replication connections (ReplMon differentiates between administrator and automatically generated connection objects) and the reasons they were created, and the IP configuration of the monitored server.
  
• 
  In Automatic Update mode, polls the server at an administrator-defined interval to get current statistics and replication state. This feature generates a history of changes for each monitored server and its replication partners and allows the administrator to see topology changes as they occur for each monitored server. In this mode, ReplMon also monitors the count of failed replication attempts for each replication partner. If the failure count meets or exceeds an administrator-defined value, it can write to the Event Log and send an e-mail notification to the administrator.
  
• 
  Allows you to trigger replication on a server with a specific replication partner, with all other domain controllers in the site, or all other domain controllers intra- and inter-site (replication partners are established by the data that they hold - not all domain controllers will be involved in this process depending on the domain controller being synchronized).
  
• 
  Allows you to trigger the KCC on the monitored server to recalculate the replication topology.
  
• 
  Allows you to display, on-demand, the Active Directory changes that have not yet replicated from a given replication partner.
  
• 
  Supports a mode that records the attributes that were replicated to the monitored server from its replication partners.
  
• 
  Allows you to display a list of the trust relationships maintained by the domain controller being monitored.
  
• 
  Can display the metadata of an Active Directory object attributes which include: the attribute name, version number, the time the attribute was last changed, which domain controller last changed the attribute, and the USN on the monitored server and on the computer where the change was originally written.
  
• 
  Optionally logs all of its own activity.
  
• 
  Supports supplying alternate credentials to allow ReplMon to simultaneously monitor replication status of domain controllers from multiple forests.