Microsoft KB Archive/78209

= An Overview of the Netlogon Service and How It Works =

Article ID: 78209

Article Last Modified on 10/31/2006



This article was previously published under Q78209



SUMMARY
The following is a brief overview of the Netlogon service.



MORE INFORMATION
The Netlogon service is executed to replicate the user accounts system (UAS) database between a primary domain controller (PDC), a backup domain controller (BDC), and member servers, and to validate logons to the logical domain the servers are in. Changes to the UAS are allowed only from the primary domain controller once the Netlogon service is started. Any attempt to modify the UAS on a backup domain controller or member server will result in an error stating that the UAS has been replicated and cannot be modified.

When Netlogon is started on a BDC or a member server, a request will be made to do a full update of the UAS from the PDC. This can be avoided by using the /update:no parameter at Netlogon start-up time. Other switches include:   /PULSE        (60-3600) seconds         Defaults: 300 /RANDOMIZE   (5-120) seconds           Defaults:  30 /SCRIPTS     Path of Netlogon share BDCs and member servers look at the UPDATE parameter and SCRIPTS path, but PDCs ignore an /UPDATE switch.

After the PDC has been started successfully, it will maintain a list of changes that have been made to the UAS in an internal list. At /PULSE time, the PDC will issue a PULSE onto the network in the form of a second class mailslot. This message will notify BDCs and members that changes have been made to the UAS. This is a second class mailslot; therefore, a BDC or member server may miss this call because its delivery is not guaranteed.

When a BDC or member server receives this message, it will request changes from the PDC. BDCs and members use the /RANDOMIZE parameter to determine how long they should wait before requesting updates from the PDC. This prevents the PDC from receiving a flood of update requests from all the replicated systems. If a BDC or member has missed a large number of these changes, it may request a complete copy of the UAS from the PDC. This will ensure that the replicating server has all the changes that have been made. BDCs and members never poll the PDC for updates -- they always wait for update notices from the PDC.

Note: Members and backups assume the PDC has crashed if they do not receive a pulse from the PDC within one minute of the time they expect a pulse. If this failure is confirmed, a message is posted in the error log reporting the PDC crash. After 60 minutes, the service will clear a flag and treat the next pulse as a new failure.

Additional query words: 2.00 2.10 2.10a 2.20 netlogon

Keywords: KB78209

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