What are the different cache refreshes performed by Directory and Resource Administrator? (NETIQKB369)

Goal

What are the different cache refreshes performed by Directory and Resource Administrator?

What is the Accounts Cache Refresh?

What is the Domain Cache Refresh?

What is the Incremental (Accounts) Cache Refresh?

What is the Resource Cache Refresh?

Fact

Directory and Resource Administrator 6.x
Directory and Resource Administrator 7.x
Directory and Resource Administrator 8.x

Fix

Listed below are the names of the cache refreshes performed by Directory and Resource Administrator (DRA) and the names of the related cache refreshes performed by Enterprise Administrator (EA).

DRA	EA
Account Cache Refresh (Full)	SAM Cache Refresh
Resource Cache Refresh	System Cache Refresh
Domain Cache Refresh	N\A
Incremental Cache Refresh (in version 6.50 and later, AD domains only)	N\A

An Accounts or SAM Cache Refresh collects all User, Group, and Computer account information from the Managed domains and all User and Global Group information from the Trusted domains. DRA caches very few properties for each of these objects, collecting only those needed for evaluating DRA rules and for enumerating lists in the user interfaces. In addition, if the Automatically install the NetIQ DRA Agent service on all domain controllers. option is selected, the NetIQ DRA Agents are dispatched to all domain controllers during this refresh process. By default the Accounts Cache Refresh is scheduled to run once every week for an Active Directory domain and every night at 3:05 AM for Windows NT domains.

A Resource or System Cache Refresh collects information about available member computers in the managed domains. Computer account information is obtained from either the Active Directory or SAM database. The availability of a computer as indicated in the MMC is gathered from the Windows 2000 or Windows NT browser service. By default the Resource CacheRefresh is scheduled to run every 30 mins.

A Domain Cache Refresh collects information pertaining to the configuration of managed domains. It includes the names of new trusted domains as well as domain controllers that have come online since the previous domain cache refresh. This cache refresh type is new to DRA 6.3 and above. By default the Domain Cache Refresh is scheduled to run every 4 hours.

An Incremental Cache Refresh collects only the data that changed since the last full Accounts Cache Refresh. The incremental refresh provides a streamlined way to keep up with the changing Active Directory. The incremental refresh quickly updates the accounts cache while incurring the least impact on the enterprise.

For more information on the Incremental Cache Refresh refer to the following Knowledge Base article:

NETIQKB7681 - What is an Incremental Accounts Cache Refresh and how does it work?

Formerly known as NETIQKB369