Fine-Tuning Change Notification Values

Article
07/02/2012

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

Replication within a site occurs as a response to changes elsewhere in the site. Replication across sites occurs based on the replication schedule and interval. It is also possible to enable change notifications across sites.

When a change occurs on a domain controller, two configurable intervals determine the delay between the following events:

Notification to the first partner.
Notification to each subsequent partner.

The above two intervals serve to:

Stagger network traffic caused by replication.
Spreads out the load of responding to replication requests from its partners.

The following table lists the default notification delays:

Note

Operating system

300

Windows 2000

Windows Server 2003

Windows 2000

Windows Server 2003 (either upgraded from Windows 2000 or a clean install)

Windows Server 2003

The following table lists the storage location of notification delay values for each operating system.

Operating system	Location	Attribute
Windows 2000 Server	HKLM\SYSTEM\CSS\Services\NTDS\Parameters	Replicator notify pause after modify (secs) Replicator notify pause between Directory System Agent (DSAs) (secs)
Windows Server 2003	Cross-reference object for each directory partition in the configuration partition.	msDS-Replication-Notify-First-DSA-Delay msDS-Replication-Notify-Subsequent-DSA-Delay

Repadmin /notifyopt could be used to view or change the notification timing settings of a specified directory partition in Windows Server 2003.

Syntax

repadmin /notifyopt <DC_LIST> <NamingContext> [/first: Value] [/subs: Value]

Parameter	Definition
<DC_List>	Specifies the host name of a domain controller, or a list of domain controllers separated by a space. For details about <DC_LIST>, see repadmin /listhelp.
<NamingContext>	Specifies the distinguished name of the directory partition on the source domain controller.
/first	The number of seconds after a change is made before the domain controller notifies its first replication partner that there is a change.
/subs	Once the first replication partner is notified of a change, the subs parameter specifies the number of seconds to wait before notifying the next replication partner.

Example 1: Displaying the default notification delay on the ForestDnsZones partition

Repadmin /notifyopt

Example 2: Changing the defaults to 300/30 on the ForestDnsZones