Forces a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) path to be specific to a Microsoft® Active Directory® domain controller. Used by Microsoft® Provisioning Framework (MPF).

Using a single preferred domain controller eliminates replication delays that arise between multiple controllers. It is also useful if a transaction provisions another service that uses Active Directory, and you know which domain controller it is most likely to use. For example, if the other service is Microsoft® Exchange 2000 and the Exchange server is in a particular Active Directory Site, that site's domain controller should be the preferred domain controller.

If the LDAP path already contains an IP address, the procedure assumes that this address represents a domain controller and returns the path unchanged. Otherwise, it updates the path with the preferred domain controller's Domain Name System (DNS) name. If no preferred domain controller is specified or if the controller does not respond, the procedure performs a serverless bind for the LDAP path. The procedure also checks whether the original server and the preferred domain controller are in the same Active Directory domain. If they are not, it returns a 0xC2100FA5=ADSCO_DOMAIN_MISMATCH error.

If the domainController element is specified, the dcPath element will use that domain controller. This overrides the value in the preferredDomainController element. If the domainController element was not specified, a domainController element is returned with the domain controller that was picked to create dcPath.

Note Before using this procedure, see whether the Preferred DC Active Directory Provider can save you some time. This namespace executes Active Directory operations with a binding to the specified domain controller.

The following code fragment shows the format for sending data to this procedure. For more information on individual elements and attributes, see the Elements and Attributes table.

<executeData>1..1
   <path>1..1</path>
   <preferredDomainController>0..1</preferredDomainController>
   <domainController>0..1</domainController>
</executeData>

The following code fragment shows the format for data this procedure returns. For more information on individual elements and attributes, see the Elements and Attributes table.

<executeData>1..1
  <dcPath>1..1</dcPath>
  <domainController>1..1</domainController>
</executeData>

The following table describes the XML schema elements and attributes. Unless otherwise indicated, the data type is string.

Applies To

Active Directory Provider for: Hosted Messaging and Collaboration version 4.5 Hosted Messaging and Collaboration version 4.0 Hosted Messaging and Collaboration version 3.5 Hosted Messaging and Collaboration version 3.0 Windows-based Hosting version 4.5 Windows-based Hosting version 4.0 Windows-based Hosting version 3.5 Windows-based Hosting for Applications version 1.0

Active Directory Provider