how do I discover "distinct" computers in my domain

Dear All,
I'm trying to list all the "distinct" computers in my domain i.e. those that
have not broadcast any life signs during the last 30 days. The OLDCMP.EXE
only regards user logon activity and password expired information and not
broadcasting of computer in the network. I am using Windows Server 2003
Active Directory.
Thanks,
Gila

 

Dear All,
I meant extinct and not distinct.
Gila

 

Hi,

If your Windows 2003 domain is in native mode, you can do a query on
the lastLogonTimestamp attribute. Note that this attribute is only
updated on a weekly basis though.

The below is relevant for both user and computer accounts.


From the docs for lastLogonTimestamp:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/adschema/ad/adam_a_lastlogontimestamp.asp

<quote>
Last-Logon-Timestamp
This is the time that the user last logged into the domain. This value
is only updated when the user logs in if a week has passed since the
last update. This value is replicated.
</quote>

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/.../proddocs/en-us/dsadmin_concepts_accounts.asp

<quote>
When the domain functional level has been set to Windows Server 2003,
a new lastLogonTimestamp attribute is used to track the last logon
time of a user or computer account.
</quote>


Note the once a week update only part and the Windows Server 2003
domain functional level prerequisite.


A "Scripting Guys" article about lastLogonTimestamp:

Dandelions, VCR Clocks, and Last Logon Times: These are a Few of Our
Least Favorite Things
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/topics/win2003/lastlogon.mspx

 

That isn't what he is asking for as that is what oldcmp takes care of for people.

He wants, IMO, a tool that can look to see if a computer has sent any traffic
out over the network in the last thirty days which is pretty much impossible
unless you have something running on the network hardware itself calculating
stats for every packet it sees which would almost certainly be MAC based versus
IP based and would have to live on every separate physical portion that has a
unique subnet space. I.E. It couldn't for instance just live on routers because
routers don't see all traffic, this is more like it would have to live on the
switches themselves.