Article ID: 924890 - Last Review: May 9, 2007 - Revision: 1.3

The default tombstone lifetime (TSL) value remains at 60 days instead of increasing to 180 days in Windows Server 2003 R2

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SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2, the default tombstone lifetime (TSL) value remains at 60 days.

Note In Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, the default TSL value has increased from 60 days to 180 days.

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CAUSE

The Windows Server 2003 R2 installation program incorrectly resets the default TSL value to 60 days.

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RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, install Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2). For more information, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb229701.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb229701.aspx)

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

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MORE INFORMATION

When an object is deleted, Active Directory replicates the deletion as a tombstone object. A tombstone object consists of a small subset of attributes of the deleted object. By inbound-replicating the deleted object, other domain controllers in both the domain and in the forest receive information about the deletion. The tombstone object is retained in Active Directory for a specified period. This specified period is called the TSL. At the end of the TSL, the tombstone object is permanently deleted. For more information about how to change the TSL value, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

198793 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/198793/ ) The Active Directory database garbage collection process

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