Recipe 16.14 Logging the Number of Expired Tombstone Objects

16.14.1 Problem

You want to log the number of expired tombstone objects that are removed from Active Directory during each garbage-collection cycle.

16.14.2 Solution

16.14.2.1 Using a graphical user interface

1. Run regedit.exe from the command line or Start Run.

2. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Services NTDS Diagnostics.

3. In the right pane, double-click on 6 Garbage Collection.

4. For Value data, enter 3.

5. Click OK.

16.14.2.2 Using a command-line interface

> reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Diagnostics /v "6 Garbage[RETURN]  Collection" /t REG_DWORD /d 3

16.14.2.3 Using VBScript

' This code enables garbage collection logging. ' ------ SCRIPT CONFIGURATION ------ strDCName = "<DomainControllerName>" intValue = 3   ' ------ END CONFIGURATION --------- const HKLM = &H80000002 strNTDSReg = "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NTDS\Diagnostics" set objReg = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strDCName & "\root\default:StdRegProv") objReg.SetDWORDValue HKLM, strNTDSReg, "6 Garbage Collection," intValue WScript.Echo "Garbage Collection logging enabled"

16.14.3 Discussion

Here is a sample event that is logged when the 6 Garbage Collection diagnostics logging level is set to 3 or higher:

Event Type:        Information Event Source:        NTDS General Event Category:        Garbage Collection  Event ID:        1006 Date:                6/24/2003 Time:                11:29:31 AM User:                NT AUTHORITY\ANONYMOUS LOGON Computer:        DC1 Description: Internal event: Finished removing deleted objects that have expired (garbage  collection). Number of expired deleted objects that have been removed: 229.

16.14.4 See Also

Recipe 15.2 for more on diagnostics logging and Recipe 16.13 for more on the garbage-collection process