Wednesday, May 26, 2010

How to find out which domain controller i'm talking to?

To find out which domain controller your PC is talking to, use the following command:

nltest /dsgetdc:domainname.local



This is very handy when testing your active directory sites and services topology to ensure it is setup correctly. If you want to understand the process in which a client computer locates its domain controller please see this post:

http://clintboessen.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-clients-locate-domain-controllers.html
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 27, 2010 at 11:23 PM

    hi,

    'set l' - less informative but quicker and uses builtin command

    ReplyDelete
  2. Clint Boessen [MVP]November 29, 2011 at 12:52 AM

    You are refering to the %logonserver% environment variable. This variable is not always accurate, for example if you travel from one location to another with your laptop the variable takes a while to update. I am not 100% sure what updates the variable but I know that nltest gives you RIGHT NOW information on which DC your talking to from my experiance.

    ReplyDelete
  3. NealoMarch 8, 2012 at 3:03 AM

    But not from an XP client (without installing a resource kit)
    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Austin ExplorerMarch 27, 2012 at 5:46 AM

    Hmm. I get: Getting DC name failed: Status = 1355 0x54b ERROR_NO_SUCH_DOMAIN

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousMarch 27, 2012 at 6:30 AM

    Austin, replace "domainname.local" with YOUR actual domain name.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Monika GuptaSeptember 8, 2015 at 4:42 AM

    Nice Post, thank you very much for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

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