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The Active Directory database of Windows 2000
does a pretty good job of defragmenting itself as it goes about its
work. This is known as online defragmentation. It cannot really be
controlled, nor should it be, by an Active Directory administrator.
In very large enterprise installations, where there is a very large
amount of Active Directory activity occurring, it might become necessary
to "manually" defragment the database. This is known as
offline defragmentation. A key indicator that this might be necessary is
if you have deleted a large number of objects from the database and
there has been no corresponding change in the size of the database.
Remember, the database is stored on your file system in the form of a
file named NTDS.DIT.
To perform an offline defragmentation of the database, follow these
steps carefully:
1. Backup Active Directory by using the Backup utility. You do this by
backing up the System State Data.
2. Restart the domain controller and press F8 at startup to display the
Windows 2000 Advanced Options menu.
3. Select Directory Services Restore Mode and press Enter.
4. Log on using the local Administrator account and password.
5. At the Command Prompt, type NTDSUTIL and press Enter.
6. Type files and press Enter.
7. Type the following command and press Enter: compact to <drive>:\<directory>
where <drive>:\<directory>
is the path to a location where there is enough free space to hold the
Active Directory database.
8. Type Quit and press Enter.
9. Type Quit again and press Enter.
10. Copy the new NTDS.DIT file over the old file.
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