Active Directory Cookbook

3.12. Finding the Services a Domain Controller Is Advertising

Problem

You want to find the services a domain controller is advertising.

Solution

The following command will display the list of services a domain controller is advertising:

> dcdiag /v /s:<DomainControllerName> /test:advertising

You can also use nltest to get similar information:

> nltest /server:<DomainControllerName> /dsgetdc:<DomainName>

Discussion

The dcdiag /test:advertising command is a wrapper around the DsGetDcName method. DsGetDcName returns a structure called DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_INFO that contains the list of services a domain controller provides. Table 3-2 contains the possible values returned from this call.

Table 3-3. DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_INFO flags

Value	Description
DS_DS_FLAG	Directory server for the domain
DS_GC_FLAG	Global catalog server for the forest
DS_KDC_FLAG	Kerberos Key Distribution Center for the domain
DS_PDC_FLAG	Primary domain controller of the domain
DS_TIMESERV_FLAG	Time server for the domain
DS_WRITABLE_FLAG	Hosts a writable directory service

See Also

MSDN: DsGetDcName and MSDN: DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_INFO