Active Directory Cookbook

3.16. Cleaning Up Distributed Link Tracking Objects

Problem

You want to make sure the Distributed Link Tracking (DLT) service is disabled and all DLT objects are removed from Active Directory. The Distributed Link Tracking Server service is used to track links to files on NTFS partitions. If a file that has a shortcut to it is renamed or moved, Windows uses the DLT service to find the file when the shortcut is opened. Most organizations are unaware this service even exists, but yet it can populate thousands of objects in Active Directory. Unless you are actively using the functionality of the DLT service, it is recommended that you disable it.

Solution

If you upgrade a Windows 2000 domain controller to Windows Server 2003, the DLT Server service is stopped and set to disabled. A new install of Windows Server 2003 also has the service stopped and set to disabled. But the DLT Server service on Windows 2000 domain controllers is enabled by default. Unless you need it, you should stop the service and disable it on all of your domain controllers.

Next, you’ll need to remove any DLT objects (linkTrackVolEntry and linkTrackOMTEntry) from Active Directory. Since there can be hundreds of thousands of DLT objects, you will probably want to stagger the deletion of those objects. The script in MS KB 315229 (dltpurge.vbs) can delete DLT objects over a period of time instead of all at once. Here is an example of running the dltpurge.vbs script against the dc1 domain controller in the rallencorp.com ...