A short explanation on Garbage Collection Process of Active Directory

This article explains about the garbage collection process used by Active Directory�to clear out orphaned objects from Active Directory�Database file (ntds.dit).
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Windows 2000/2003 Servers delete all tombstone objects after 60 days after their original status. Active Directory�sets isDeleted attribute to TRUE after the 60 days automatically or when you delete an object manually. This is because a tombstone object should be replicated to all domain controllers in the domain (The domain partition). Otherwise objects will be re-created in Active Directory.
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You can also change the default time.
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If you�want to change the default time you can modify the tombstonelifetime setting under cd=DirectoryServices,cn=WindowsNT,cn=Services,cn=Configuration,dc=DomainName parameter which Microsoft does not recommend.
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Each directory partition holds a container called Deleted Object except Schema partition because you can not delete objects from this partition. After deleting an object or setting isDeleted attribute to TRUE Active Directory�moves these records to Deleted Object container in the partition that contained the object.
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Active Directory�hides these Deleted Objects containers by default, so to view them you must enable the Return Deleted ObjectsLightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) control as part of a search operation.
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You can search Tombstone objects using LDP found in Windows 2000 and Windows 2003.
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