Changing Active Directory Cache Settings
Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2
Settings in the registry specify the number of entries that will be stored in the Active Directory cache. To improve response time for client requests, you can modify these settings. For more information, see “Optimizing directory services performance” earlier in this subject. You can also specify the validity period for information that is stored in the cache.
On computers running the 32-bit version of Windows Server 2003, the following registry key is the full subkey path for the cache entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\DRMS\1.0\DirectoryServices
On computers running the 64-bit version of Windows Server 2003, the following registry key is the full subkey path for the cache entries:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SoftwareWOW6432Node\Microsoft\DRMS\1.0\DirectoryServices
The following table lists the entries that control in-memory cache behavior.
| Name | Type | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
PrincipalCacheMax |
DWORD |
1,000 |
Maximum number of principals and their e-mail addresses and SIDs that can be stored in the cache. |
PrincipalCacheExpireMinutes |
DWORD |
720 |
Validity period of cached information for principals. |
GroupIDCacheMax |
DWORD |
1,000 |
Maximum number of groups and their e-mail addresses and SIDs that can be stored in the cache. |
GroupIDCacheExpireMinutes |
DWORD |
720 |
Validity period of cached information for group membership. |
GroupMembershipCacheMax |
DWORD |
1,000 |
Maximum number of contacts that are members of a group that can be stored in the cache. |
GroupMembershipCacheExpireMinutes |
DWORD |
720 |
Validity period of cached information for contacts that are members of a group. |
Warning
Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on the computer.
Note
The PrincipalCacheExpireMinutes, GroupIDCacheExpireMinutes, GroupMembershipCacheExpireMinutes, and ContactMembersofGroupCacheExpireMinutes registry entries also control cache expiration in the local Active Directory cache stored in the directory services database on your database server.