Question : active directory log files

i have a client that is dc promo a server and wants to know what fiels are kept in the app logs that are beeing out on the c: and if he shoudl place these on a different drive. can i et some help on teh answer for this thanks guys

Answer : active directory log files

*Pulled from: http://www.tech-faq.com/maintain-active-directory.shtml


Active Directory Database and Log Files
The ESE uses transaction and log files to ensure the integrity of the active directory database. Active Directory includes the following files:
    * Ntds.dit is the Active Directory database which stores the entire active directory objects on the domain controller. The .dit extension refers to the directory information tree. The default location is the %systemroot%\Ntds folder. Active Directory records each and every transaction log files that are associated with the Ntds.dit file.
    * Edb*.log is the transaction log file. Each transaction file is 10 megabytes (MB). When Edb.log file is full, active directory renames it to Edbnnnnn.log, where nnnnn is an increasing number starts from 1.
    * Edb.chk is a checkpoint file which is use by database engine to track the data which is not yet written to the active directory database file. The checkpoint file act as a pointer that maintains the status between memory and database file on disk. It indicates the starting point in the log file from which the information must be recovered if a failure occurs.
    * Res1.log and Res2.log: These are reserved transaction log files. The amount of disk space that is reserved on a drive or folder for this log is 20 MB. This reserved disk space provides a sufficient space to shut down if all the other disk space is being used.


Personally - if you have a spare hard drive to put the log files and database on then by all means do so.  The chance of both hard drives failing is a lot less than if you put everything onto one hard drive.  Also, depending on the types of hard drives and controllers, you can actually increase the speed of the domain controller because you will be writing data to two different hard drive and not having to wait until one write process is finished.  Also, if your Ntds.dit file becomes corrupt due to bad sectors on the hard drive, there will be less of a chance that the log files which you can restore from will be damaged as well.
On the flip side, I have installed and managed many domains where everything is on one hard drive and only encountered around two separate errors that this setup would have helped me with.