Note that Ntdsutil's Move command moves the relevant files and updates the registry on the DC so that AD can access and use the new locations. This operation is fairly significant, so I highly recommend that you completely back up AD on the DC before you relocate any AD components. I also suggest that you use Windows NT Backup or a Win2K-compatible third-party backup utility to back up AD immediately after you move the directory database file and log files, so that your backups reflect the correct current locations of AD components on the DC.
How do I defragment the Active Directory (AD) database? I seem to remember hearing that this process is automatic, but I've also heard of a manual process.
You can perform two types of defragmentation: online and offline. By default, online defrags automatically occur every 12 hours. This defrag is part of AD's Garbage Collection process, which the Microsoft article "The Active Directory Database Garbage Collection Process" (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q198/7/93.asp) describes. (Those readers familiar with Microsoft Exchange Server will recognize this process as similar to one that Exchange uses.)
Although the automatic nature of online defrags make them handy, they do nothing to reduce the size of the AD database file (i.e., ntds.dit) on a domain controller (DC). Online defrags only reclaim free space from within the file.
To reduce the size of the file, you need to perform an offline defrag of the directory—a process that takes the DC offline. An offline defrag requires you to reboot the server into Directory Services Restore mode, which instructs the DC to boot Windows 2000 without starting AD services and thus permits the file access you need for this operation.
Before you start the offline defrag process, verify that you have sufficient free disk space to hold a copy of the current ntds.dit file, and use Windows NT Backup or a third-party backup utility to perform a system state backup. Then, use Win2K's Ntdsutil utility to perform a database compaction of ntds.dit. Open a command prompt, then enter the command
ntdsutil
At the ntdsutil: prompt, enter the word
files
At the file maintenance: prompt, enter the word
info
Note the displayed directory path, which is the current location of the active version of ntds.dit.
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