Verify successful replication to a domain controller

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

You can use the repadmin /showrepl command to verify successful replication to a specific domain controller. If you are not running Repadmin on the domain controller whose replication you are checking, you can specify a destination domain controller in the command. Repadmin lists INBOUND NEIGHBORS for the current or specified domain controller. INBOUND NEIGHBORS shows the distinguished name of each directory partition for which inbound directory replication has been attempted, the site and name of the source domain controller, and whether replication succeeded or not, as follows:

  • Last attempt @ YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM.SS was successful.

  • Last attempt @ [Never] was successful.

If @ [Never] appears in the output for a directory partition, replication of that directory partition has never succeeded from the identified source replication partner over the listed connection.

Administrative credentials

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Domain Admins group in the domain of the destination domain controller.

To verify successful replication to a domain controller

  1. Open a Command Prompt.

  2. Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    repadmin /showrepl servername **/u:domainname\**username /pw:*

    Term Definition

    servername

    Specifies the name of the destination domain controller.

    domainname

    Specifies the single-label name of the domain of the destination domain controller. (You do not have to use a fully qualified Domain Name System (DNS) name.)

    username

    Specifies the name of an administrative account in that domain.

    1. When you are prompted for a password, type the password for the user account that you provided, and then press ENTER.

    You can also use Repadmin to generate the details of replication to and from all replication partners in a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet displays data in the following columns:

    Showrepl_COLUMNS

    Destination DC Site

    Destination DC

    Naming Context

    Source DC Site

    Source DC

    Transport Type

    Number of Failures

    Last Failure Time

    Last Success Time

    Last Failure Status

    The following procedure shows how to create this spreadsheet and set column headers for improved readability.

    To generate a repadmin /showrepl spreadsheet for all replication partners

    1. Open a Command Prompt.

    2. Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

      repadmin /showrepl * /csv >showrepl.csv

    3. Open Microsoft Excel.

    4. On the File menu, click Open, navigate to showrepl.csv, and then click Open.

    5. Hide or delete column A as well as the Transport Type column, as follows:

    6. Select a column that you want to hide or delete.

      • To hide the column, on the Format menu, click Column, and then click Hide.

        Or

      • To delete the column, right-click the selected column, and then click Delete.

    7. Select row 1 beneath the column heading row, and then, on the Window menu, click Freeze Panes.

    8. Select the entire spreadsheet. On the Data menu, click Filter, and then click AutoFilter.

    9. In the Last Success Time column, click the down arrow, and then click Sort Ascending.

    10. In the Source DC column, click the down arrow, and then click Custom.

    11. In the Custom AutoFilter dialog box, under Show rows where, click does not contain. In the adjacent text box, type del to eliminate from view the results for deleted domain controllers.

    12. Repeat step 10 for the Last Failure Time column, but use the value does not equal, and type the value 0.

    13. Resolve replication failures.

    The last successful attempt should agree with the replication schedule for intersite replication, or the attempt should be within the last hour for intrasite replication.

    If Repadmin reports any of the following conditions, see Troubleshooting Active Directory Replication Problems:

    • The last successful intersite replication was prior to the last scheduled replication.

    • The last intrasite replication was longer than one hour ago.

    • Replication was never successful.

    See Also

    Concepts

    Troubleshooting Active Directory Replication Problems