This article was updated on 01/07/2016. See updates at the bottom.

 

The AD Replication Status solution is the latest solution from Microsoft in the Operations Management Suite (OMS). The AD Replication status solution analyzes the replication status of domain controllers in an Active Directory domain or forest, and enables administrators to identify and remediate AD replication issues. In this article, I will provide a review of my experiences with this solution, and point out some gotchas and other noteworthy observations.

Similarly to other OMS solutions, this solution can be accessed from the Solutions Gallery in your OMS workspace. Upon addition to your account, you will see a tile for the AD Replication status solution populate in your OMS Overview page.

 

 

This solution installs the corresponding management pack in OMS integrated SCOM management groups, and in any relevant agents that are directly attached to your OMS workspace, and to which the solution is applicable.

 

After giving more than ample time for data aggregation (12+ hours), I was expecting to see the AD Replication tile in the overview page update with some information that would indicate that data aggregation and assessment was complete, but the tile continues to indicate that aggregation is still ongoing.

 

 

After a day or so, the status remained the same, and so I ran some queries to determine what if anything the solution had detected.

I was able to get some results from the solution using the following query:ry:

Type=ADReplicationResult

 

 

The highlighted ‘LastSyncResult’ of 0 indicates that there are no replication issues, and furthermore, upon clicking on the tile, I get the view shown below.

 

 

This data from the solution persisted after a day or two, and so I sought to further determine whether this was unique to my OMS account, or whether this was a characteristic behavior of the solution. I added the solution into 2 different OMS accounts with OMS agents installed in domain controllers, and allowed ample time for data aggregation, but got the same results.

I then decided to create a replication issue and gauge the solution’s behavior. I turned off a replication partner for a domain controller in my lab, and expected to see some feedback in the overview tile, but received the erroneous information shown below:

 

 

However, I determined that the solution had identified the replication issue I created:

Type=ADReplicationResult LastSyncResult!=0

 

 

You will notice that the highlighted ‘LastSyncResult’ with values such as 1256 and 1722 are indicative of replication issues.

And upon clicking on the AD Replication Status Tile from the OMS overview page, I am able to see detailed information about the AD Replication issues identified in my lab AD forest/ domain.

I get the same or similar feedback using SCOM or other replication monitoring tool such as AD Replication status tool.

 

 

However, the AD Replication status tile in the OMS Overview page still indicates that data aggregation and assessments are still ongoing, which strikes me as erroneous. If this is unique to my OMS accounts, I’d be interested in hearing from other users in the community.

 

 

In sum, I find this to be a rather useful solution for monitoring AD replication, which is critical to the health of one’s AD infrastructure. However, the AD Replication Status tile in the OMS overview page will need to be updated to accurately reflect replication data. I’ll reach out to the OMS product team with my findings and to determine if this is an isolated or a known issue, and will update this article if and when I receive any updates.

 

UPDATE: 01/07/2016

The AD Replication Status solution tile now shows summary information in OMS overview page solution tile.

 

Cheers!