ADcheck FAQ
- Why is NetIQ offering ADcheck for free?
- ADcheck introduces new customers to NetIQ products. It's a perfect introduction to NetIQ's full line of tools for migrating to, administering, testing and monitoring the Active Directory.
- How can I get ADcheck?
- ADcheck is available only by web download from http://www.netiq.com/ADcheck. Customers are asked to register before downloading the product.
- Is ADcheck a stand-alone product, or is it part of another product?
- ADcheck is a fully standalone product. It has no dependencies on any other NetIQ product.
- Is ADcheck supported?
- Technical support is available for ADcheck only in the product.
- What is the price?
- ADcheck is available at no charge.
- Is there an ADcheck datasheet or product manual?
- ADcheck has embedded help that provides all product information. The web site at http://www.netiq.com/ADcheck serves as the product datasheet.
- What specific diagnostic tasks does ADcheck provide?
- ADcheck provides five real-time diagnostic tasks. Users can:
- Test a single domain controller for network connectivity, DNS configuration, and bind response.
- List domain controllers.
- List operations masters.
- Check replication topology.
- Retrieve domain controller state information.
- What are the benefits of each diagnostic task?
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- Check Domain Controller. Verifies that the DC is on the network with ping, verifies that the DC can serve directory queries by doing a bind, and checks that the network is properly configured for the DC by doing a DNS lookup.
- List Domain Controller. Lists all the DCs in the domain—you can see if any are missing that you expect. The Detail Report shows all the different names that the DC are known by, which is useful if you are having problems with some applications and not others—different APIs use different names.
- List Operations Masters. Lists the DCs performing special roles "operations masters" in the domain of the selected domain controller. Microsoft recommends that operations masters not be all hosted on one DC (because it can get overloaded), and the output shows which machines are doing each role.
- Check Replication. Checks that all the DCs can talk to their replication partners, not by doing a replication (which can place large demands on scarce network bandwidth) but by asking them to each check that they can connect. It helps diagnose the cause of replication failures.
- Retrieve DC State. Returns the results of the last replication operation attempted on a DC. If the last replication worked, you know that you should look somewhere else to see what happened. If it failed, you know the cause of the replication failure.
- What are the prerequisites for ADcheck?
- ADcheck runs on any 32-bit Windows 2000 system that is part of an Active Directory domain.
- What Windows security permissions are required to use ADcheck?
- Some of the diagnostic tasks can be performed without requiring any special security permissions. Others require administrator authority. ADcheck uses native Windows 2000 security settings.
- Does ADcheck force replication to test replication topology?
- No. ADcheck uses special diagnostic program interfaces provided by Microsoft to test that replication will be successful. This lets you test replication without actually forcing all the changed objects to be transferred over your network immediately.
- Does ADcheck provide continuous monitoring and alerting for AD Operations?
- ADcheck provides real-time diagnostics that are useful in investigating a specific issue. NetIQ AppManager for Active Directory provides continuous and on-demand diagnostic monitoring and powerful corrective tasks. An Active Directory-centric operator console provides immediate usability and continuing value, and unique needs can be met simply with powerful scripting features.
- Does ADcheck help in migrations from Windows NT 4 to Windows 2000?
- Yes. ADcheck is a perfect diagnostic supplement to NetIQ's Domain Migration Administrator, which helps customers plan and execute the migration of directory content from NT 4 to Active Directory.
During the migration to Active Directory, Windows administrators are introduced to many new concepts, and must manage an environment with different requirements than Windows NT 4. ADcheck can help ensure that the network infrastructure is properly configured and that each new domain controller added is properly configured and operating. - Does ADcheck provide network monitoring of Active Directory transactions from an end user perspective?
- NetIQ's AppManager ResponseTime for Active Directory provides a powerful solution that enables you to monitor Active Directory for high availability and maximum performance from an end-user perspective using synthetic transactions. ADcheck adds supplemental diagnostics that ResponseTime for Active Directory customers can use to further investigate when ResponseTime for Active Directory detects an issue.
Known Issues
- Does ADcheck work in domains with large numbers of domain controllers?
- Yes, although there are two display issues to be aware of:
- The machine name drop-down box is initially populated with only the first 50 domain controllers found. Additional domain controller names can be entered manually.
- The "List Domain Controllers" test may return more names than fit in the summary test window. The Detail report lists information for all domain controllers.
- Does ADcheck work with "Large Font" support loaded?
- No. The initial release of ADcheck does not work properly when Windows Large Fonts are loaded. A future release will include this support.
- What are the recommended display settings?
- ADcheck works best at a minimum screen size of 800x600 with a 16-bit color depth. The product is perfectly usable on a 256-color display adapter, but the product's appearance is diminished. All ADcheck functions are available on a 640x480 screen with the Taskbar properties set to auto-hide.
