Win32 Perl Programming: The Standard Extensions, Second Edition

Finding Domain Controllers

I am always amazed how often I find code that assumes that a particular circumstance will be true. Someone will hardcode a script to refer to a primary domain controller (PDC), for example. It is possible for a primary domain controller to go down and a backup domain controller (BDC) to automatically step in and act as a temporary PDC, or an administrator can manually promote a BDC to take over the role of the PDC. (If this occurs, the PDC steps down and acts as a BDC.) Because of this, it is a bad idea to hardcode a PDC’s computer name into a script. You should instead resolve the name of the domain’s PDC using the GetDomainController() function:

 Win32::NetAdmin::GetDomainController($Server, $Domain, $Name); Win32::Lanman::NetGetDCName($Server, ...