Active Directory database maintenance

Active Directory maintains a multi-master database to store schema information, configuration information, and domain information. Normally, when we say database, the first thing that comes to our mind is software such as Microsoft SQL, MySQL, or Oracle. But here, it's quite different. Active Directory databases use the Extensible Storage Engine (ESE), which is an Indexed and Sequential Access Method (ISAM) technology.

Here, a single system works as the client and server. It uses record-oriented database architecture, which provides extremely fast access to records. The ESE indexes the data in the database file, which can grow up to 16 terabytes and hold over 2 billion records. Typically, the ESE is used for applications that require fast and structured data storage. The ESE is used for many other Microsoft applications, including Microsoft Exchange, DHCP, and FRS.

As the database creation process is part of the domain controller...