For most organizations, it is appropriate to check the data integrity of the Active Directory forest on a regular basis. Although running the Analyze command frequently may not be necessary for small networks with few domain controllers, there are several common scenarios that you should consider to determine how often you should check the forest for potential problems.
The most likely reasons for data integrity issues stem from:
- Multiple administrators performing concurrent operations.
- Administrators using different domain controllers to perform a single operation.
- Replication delays that allow duplicate or conflicting information to be saved in Active Directory.
- Insufficient permissions that prevent an operation from being successfully completed.
- Network problems that prevent an operation from being successfully completed.
- Partial or incomplete upgrades that result in inconsistency of the information stored in Active Directory.
- Using scripts or ADSI Edit rather than the console to create, modify, or delete objects in Active Directory, which may lead to corrupted or invalid information.
Running Analyze periodically helps to ensure that the scenarios that can cause problems are reported in the Analysis Results, enabling you to take corrective action.
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