Active Directory Error "The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brad
  • Start date Start date
B

Brad

I'm trying to use Active Directory to retrieve information for a user...for
display purposes.. I am not using windows authentication or
impersonation....I am using a fixed user id and password for initializing
the DirectoryEntry object. For example sake our domain name is mydomain.net
so the LDAP path I use is LDAP://DC=mydomain,DC=Net
Notice I am not specifying a server in the LDAP path which and I would
prefer to not use the server name in the path as we have multiple ldap
servers, all mirroring each other for backup, performance and failover. On
my pc, a win2003 server, this work fine in my asp.net app and the
information is retrieved. However when I deploy to a web server on our
domain I receive the following error:
"The specified domain either does not exist or could not be
contacted"

If I include a server name in the LDAP path it works correctly on the
server, i.e. LDAP://adserver/DC=mydomain,DC=Net

Why would I have to user the server name in the path on web server but not,
for the same web app, on my local pc? I am also using the default account
for running asp.net: Network Service on my win2003 pc and ASP.NET on the
win2000 web server.


Thanks


Brad
 
Hi Brad,

Did the ASP.NET app run under same account on the two servers? To Access AD
in an ASP.NET application, it is better to run the app under a domain user
in local administrator. For example, you can config like following:

1. In machine.config, <ProcessModal> element, set the User to System
2. In Web.config, set <identity Impersonate=true />
3. In IIS manager, set the app's anonymous access account to domain user in
local administrator

Luke
Microsoft Online Support

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(This posting is provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confers no
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