RepAdmin Notes

The following terminology is used in discussing RepAdmin syntax:

• NamingContext refers to the directory partitions that are part of Active Directory. This includes the three read/write naming contexts — domain, schema and configuration — and the optional read-only naming context, the Global Catalog. A naming context is specified by the distinguished name of its root (for example, DC=MyDomain,DC=Microsoft,DC=Com).
• GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) refers to the 128-bit number used to uniquely identify objects stored in the directory (for example, fa1a9e6e-2e14-11d2-aa9b-bbfc0a30094c). The GUID is sometimes referred to in the syntax line as a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID). For the purposes of RepAdmin these two terms are synonymous.
• DN is an X.500 distinguished name (for example, CN=Server1,CN=First Site,CN=Configuration,DC=Microsoft,DC=Com).

In the RepAdmin Examples the objectGUID and the InvocationID returned by the showreps and other operations are identical hexadecimal numbers. However, they are not the same thing. An objectGUID is a unique identifier for an object that will never change. Initially the two are the same, however when Active Directory is backed up the Invocation ID will change.