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About LanMan User Directories

In a Windows environment, the Policy Server enumerates and manages the resources in a directory service through the Microsoft Active Directory Service Interface (ADSI) layer. This layer abstracts the capabilities of directory services from different network providers in a distributed computing environment. However, the current version of ADSI has its own limitations which can adversely affect the performance of the Policy Server.

With ADSI, every Windows directory request must always pass through the Primary Domain Controller (PDC) first. This compounds the network traffic that the PDC must handle. A custom solution to this dilemma is for the Policy Server to channel Windows directory requests to Backup Domain Controllers (BDCs) while bypassing the PDC. The Policy Server handles this sort of custom solution by using LanMan directory connections.

The LanMan user directory connection option allows you to specify a failover list of BDCs used for each user directory lookup in the Windows Registry. Using a LanMan directory connection, the Policy Server sends Windows directory requests to the first active BDC in the Registry list, rather than forcing requests to pass through the PDC.