Troubleshooting With Ntdsutil.exe: Active Directory Diagnostic Tool

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The Active Directory diagnostic tool (Ntdsutil) is a command-line tool that provides management facilities for Active Directory. By default, the Ntdsutil.exe file is installed in the Microsoft exam 70-297 folder. If you are an experienced administrator, you can use Ntdsutil to remove metadata left behind by domain controllers that were removed from the network without being properly uninstalled.
Ntdsutil is intended for use by experienced administrators only. Improper use of Ntdsutil can result in partial or complete loss of Active Directory functionality. In a production environment, it's recommended that you have a current backup of the system state data before using Ntdsutil. For information on backups, refer to Chapters, "Administering Active Directory."
As part of the removal of Active Directory from a domain controller, the Active Directory Installation Wizard removes the configuration data for the domain controller from Active Directory. This data takes the form of the NTDS Settings object, which exists as a child of the server object. You can view these objects in ...
... the Sites container in the 70-297 practice test Active Directory Sites And Services console. The attributes of the NTDS Settings object include data that represent how the domain controller is identified to its replication partners, the directory partitions that are maintained on the computer, and whether or not the domain controller is a global catalog server. The NTDS Settings object is also a container that can have child objects that represent the domain controller's direct rep?lication partners. This data is required for the domain controller to operate within the environment, but the NTDS Settings object is removed upon the removal of Active Directory.
Removing Orphaned Metadata If the NTDS Settings object is not properly removed during the process of removing Active Directory, you can use Ntdsutil with the Metadata Cleanup option to manually remove the NTDS Settings object. Before manually removing the NTDS Settings object from any server, you must also check if replication has occurred because of the removal of Active Directory.

DNS configuration errors are one of the most common Active Directory installa?tion issues. Issues such as the DNS client pointing to the wrong IP address will prevent you from installing Active Directory. If you have difficulty installing Active Directory, you should verify your DNS settings on both the client and the server, especially if you see a message that indicates the domain or domain free CompTIA practice tests controller could not be contacted.