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.