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5711 error fills up System Log

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by dave the it guy 2 views

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I have a small domain of about 70 users where I run 4 NT 4.0 sp6a boxes. 1 PDC,
2 BDC's and a member server. We have a two way trust with a parent company in
Europe. I have noticed that my System log is filling up with 5711 errors with the
following text:

The partial synchronization request from the server BDC#1 completed successfully.
2 changes(s) has(have) been returned to the caller.

I get a matching pair of these messages every 5 minutes 24x7 - one from each
BDC. In the small environment that we are in - there is no way we should be
replicating 2 changes every 5 minutes. I am the only admin - therefore I know
when changes are made. I have searched Technet and found the following articles
and have listed my comments beside each.

Q208237 - no built-in accounts have been modified and no account lockouts are
occurring
Q161569 - no built-in accounts have been modified
Q238191 - relates to large user groups - I have 70 users in my SAM database
Q149664 - is not problem related - simply informational
Q191828 - SMS is not installed anywhere in my local networks therefore
climont.exe is not present

None of this info is of any help. Has anybody seen this before? If so, what do
I do? It is not a critical problem except that one of my BDC's exists on the
other side of an already slow WAN link and I don't need to add unwanted
replication traffic on that link.

9 replies

by rziminski

Try using NLtest.exe it can test the trusted_domain and may report some useful info. See KB Q158148
-RZ-

by dave the it guy

Cannot use all the functions of nltest - most importantly, cannot use nltest /list_deltas:netlogon.chg which would display the replication traffic.
Tells me cannot NlOpenChangeLogFile. Permission is Everyone - FC. I have also gone so far as to delete the netlogon.chg file and have the system recreate it. - still no good.

by dave the it guy

Cannot use all the functions of nltest - most importantly, cannot use nltest /list_deltas:netlogon.chg which would display the replication traffic.
Tells me cannot NlOpenChangeLogFile. Permission is Everyone - FC. I have also gone so far as to delete the netlogon.chg file and have the system recreate it. - still no good.

by d_jarne

It sounds like to me that however attentive
you have been that the files are not the
same. Almost like they are discovering a
mismatch and our continuly updating. Have
you verfied that there is actual traffic
being generated? could be an erroneous
error generated, I thik you can disable the
message.

Good luck.

by shanghai sam

The only way I know to verify if there is traffic is to check netlogon.chg file. I cannot find a utility that will open it for me. I tried using nltest but it gave me an error opening the file.

by maxwell edison

When the PDC fails or is unavailable for an extended period of time, or if you want to change PDC machines, you can promote any BDC in the domain to the PDC. The promoted PDC takes over the role of maintaining the master copy of the SAM database, and the old PDC becomes a BDC just as any other. To promote a BDC to a PDC, follow these steps:

Launch Server Manager from the Start menu by choosing Programs and then Administrative Tools.

If the PDC is operational, highlight the BDC you want to promote and choose Synchronize with Primary Domain Controller from the Computer menu to assure that the BDC's SAM copy and PDC's SAM are identical. Click OK to acknowledge both messages you receive during the synchronization process.

Note: Although Windows NT 4.0 performs this step automatically during the promotion process, it's a good idea to synchronize the BDC with the PDC to verify that the synchronization process succeeds. To verify the success of the synchronization process, check the NETLOGON 5711 event in the System Log for a ... completed successfully message.

Highlight the BDC you want to promote (see fig. 16.4) and choose Promote to Primary Domain Controller from the Computer menu.

If the current PDC is operating, you're prompted to acknowledge that you're promoting a BDC in place of the PDC. Click Yes if you want to promote the BDC. If the current PDC isn't up (the icon is grayed in Server Manager), you're warned that the PDC can't be contacted, and that promoting the BDC will conflict with the original PDC, if it becomes operational. Click Yes if you're willing to accept this condition.

You see a series of dialogs indicating that the NetLogon service is stopping and restarting on each of the two servers. When the promotion completes, the previous BDC indicates that it's now a Primary Domain Controller, and the prior PDC becomes a Backup Domain Controller (see fig. 16.5).

by dave the it guy

Hello Maxwell:

Thank you for your information on this issue. I tried promoting and demoting the PDC and BDC's in every possible configuration. It had no effect. About a month after I posted this question, the problem stopped all by itself. I have not seen it since. I forgot to close this question.

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