Which component determines the path of Active Directory changes between Domain Controllers?

The Knowledge Consistency Checker (KCC) is a component responsible for determining the replication topology and ensuring the consistency of Active Directory across Domain Controllers. It automatically generates the replication paths based on the network topology, ensuring that changes made to the Active Directory databases on one Domain Controller are efficiently replicated to others.

The KCC analyzes the current state of Active Directory, identifies the Domain Controllers in the environment, and establishes a logical connection between them to streamline the replication process. This helps in optimizing replication traffic and maintaining the integrity and consistency of the directory across different locations.

Other components, while related to Active Directory, do not perform this specific function. For instance, the Replication Monitor is mainly used to observe and report on replication status but does not determine the paths for the changes. The Directory Synchronization Service is primarily focused on synchronizing directories between different directory services rather than managing Active Directory internal replication. Active Directory Federation Services provides single sign-on access and does not manage replication paths. Thus, the KCC is the key component in directing the flow of changes between Domain Controllers in Active Directory.