Viewing the RootDSE

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2

This topic explains how to use the Active Directory module for Windows PowerShell to view the rootDSE of a domain. By viewing the attributes of the rootDSE, you can view the basic information about a forest, domain, or domain controller without having to hard-code the naming context in a search query.

Example

The following example demonstrates how to view the rootDSE of the Fabrikam.com domain:

Get-ADRootDSE

Additional information

In addition to the standard Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) attributes, you can retrieve the following extended properties of the Get-ADRootDSE cmdlet by using the -Properties parameter:

• ConfigurationNamingContext

• CurrentTime

• DefaultNamingContext

• DnsHostName

• DomainControllerFunctionality

• DomainFunctionality

• DsServiceName

• ForestFunctionality

• HighestCommittedUSN

• IsGlobalCatalogReady

• IsSynchronized

• LdapServiceName

• NamingContexts

• RootDomainNamingContext

• SchemaNamingContext

• ServerName

• SubschemaSubentry

• SupportedCapabilities

• SupportedControl

• SupportedLDAPPolicies

• SupportedLDAPVersion

• SupportedRootDSEOperations

• SupportedSASLMechanisms

For a full explanation of the parameters that you can pass to Get-ADRootDSE, at the Active Directory module command prompt, type Get-Help Get-ADRootDSE –detailed, and then press ENTER.