Identifying Active Directory-Specific Roles

Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Scripting Guide

Several computer roles (available only to domain controllers) are contingent upon membership in an Active Directory domain, including the operations master roles (also known as flexible single master operations, or FSMO, roles) and the global catalog server role. Because Active Directory relies on these roles to carry out operations, it is vital for system administrators to know which computers perform operations master roles or function as global catalog servers.

You can use ADSI to determine the Active Directory roles played by a given computer. Depending on your needs, you can do this by searching Active Directory for computers that perform specific roles or by using ADSI to bind to a computer and enumerate the roles that the computer performs.