NetLogon registry keys that control domain controller
synchronization.
How often the PDC NetLogon service checks for changes to the database and
sends a pulse, or change notice, to the BDCs. Its the replication
interval:
Important if you need to update many BDCs or as
another method to prevent the synchronization from eating up too much network
capacity. Increase and it increases load on the PDC; decrease and it increases
time to update BDCs in the domain. To control how many BDCs the PDC updates
simultaneously:
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetLogon\Parameters
Type:
REG_DWORD
Name: PulseCurrency
Value: #
of BDCs to simultaneously update
Default=10 BDCs, min=1, max=500
Defines the pulse frequency. All SAM database changes since the last pulse
are collected and sent to each BDC when the pulse time has expired. No pulse is
sent to up-to-date BDCs. Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetLogon\Parameters
Type:
REG_DWORD
Name: Pulse
Value: value in
seconds
min=60 ; default= 300 (5 min) ; max=172,800 (48hrs)
Maximum period the PDC NetLogon service waits
before sending a pulse to the BDCs – sends pulse whether or not the BDC’s SAM is
uptodate:
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetLogon\Parameters
Type:
REG_DWORD
Name: PulseMaximum
Value: value in seconds
min=60 ; default=7200 ; max=86400
time PDC will wait for BDC to respond to a
pulse. If the BDC does not respond, it is considered nonresponsive. If there are
very many nonresponsive BDCs, it can take a long time to finish the domain
synchronization process:
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetLogon\Parameters
Type:
REG_DWORD
Name: PulseTimeout1
Value: value in seconds
min=1 ; default=5 ; max=120
time PDC will wait for BDC to complete partial
synchronization. If the BDC will be considered noresponsive if it stops calling
the PDC during synchronization. If too low, the load on PDC will increase; if
number too high, the BDC will be slow and take up PulseConcurrency
slots:
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetLogon\Parameters
Type:
REG_DWORD
Name: PulseTimeout2
Value: value in seconds
min=60 ; default=300 ; max=3600
% of 128K standard package used for domain
synchronization:
Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetLogon\Parameters
Type:
REG_DWORD
Name: ReplicationGovernor
Value: % bandwidth
min=0 Default=100%
Zero would
prevent synchronization. A low value could prevent synchronization from
occuring.
The domain db, the domain controller’s SAM can be a maximum of 40 MB. The SAM
has three types of records: user accounts, computer accounts, and group groups.
Each takes space: 1K for a user account, 512 bytes (1/2 K) for computer
accounts, global groups 512 bytes, and each member of a global group takes 12
bytes. This means that the SAM can contain approximately 25,000 user accounts
and leave space for computer accounts and groups.
